Pokemon: The Fall of Cipher
by rcmgamer218
Summary: Come see Ash, Misty, and Brock join up with their new friends in the Orre Region as they take on Cipher and their plan for creating Shadow Pokemon. Special guests: Wes and Rui from the game, Pokemon Colosseum. Parings: Ash/Misty and Wes/Rui.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon:

Things in the Orre Region were pretty normal at the moment, especially at the small Outskirt Stand near the edge of Orre's massive desert. Except for one thing; if someone was to step outside, they'd notice three flying creatures making their way towards the small rest stop; each one carrying someone on their back. The creatures were the Pokemon Pidgeot, Charizard, and Fearow, and the ones riding them were Pokemon Master in training, twenty-three old, Ash Ketchum and his trusty Pikachu, his wife, twenty-five year old Misty Ketchum, who was holding onto a small girl, who happened to be Misty and Ash's two year old daughter, Sapphire, and third person was the Pokemon Breeder, twenty-eight year old, Brock.

The three Pokemon trainers were in Orre because of its fame of having Pokemon Colosseum battles, which had some of the toughest Pokemon trainers in the world, the most famous being the mysterious top trainer at the Colosseum known as Realgam Tower. No one outside of Orre knew who the trainer's name and people from Orre made a habit of not telling outsiders. Not out of hatred for trainers outside Orre, but to spark their curiosity and cause more to arrive, bringing more trainers to the region. The tactic worked on Ash, for he wanted to compete in Realgam Tower and battle the mysterious trainer, and win, proving that he was the best trainer in the world, or at least in the Orre Region.

When the three Pokemon landed in front of Outskirt Stand, Ash, Misty and Brock got off their flying friends, and Ash got out three Poke Balls.

"Charizard, Pidgeot, Fearow, return!" Ash commanded, and the three Pokemon were hit by a single read beam of light from each Poke Ball, and the three Pokemon were sent back into the balls to rest. "Thanks for the help you guys, now get a good rest." Ash said to his Pokemon, and he turned towards his wife, daughter, and best friend. "Well, we finally made it to the Orre Region." Ash announced, and Brock and Misty nodded, but Misty looked concerned.

"Let's get inside; this heat _can't_ be good for Sapphire." Misty said, and they walked into the small, train-like restaurant, and sat down on the barstools in the restaurant.

"Can I help you four?" The man behind the counter said as he was a cup with a cloth.

"Yes; I was wondering what supplies you had for sale, like potions, food, and stuff like that." Ash said, and the man nodded.

"I have a small surplus of supplies, and I can sell you enough to last you to the next city in this Region, Phenac City." The man said, and he got out a list of the stuff he sold, and Ash looked over the list while Misty put her daughter in the chair next to her and opened a small, portable cooler she had with her and pulled out a small container holding apple sauce and got a small spoon out afterwards.

"You hungry Sapphire?" Misty asked, and the small two year old nodded.

"Yeah!" Sapphire answered. Sapphire was obviously Misty's daughter, due to her fire red hair and blue eyes, she looked just like her mother, but when you got to know Sapphire, you could easily tell she was Ash's daughter, due to her stubborn nature, overly-active energy, and an appetite that'd put a Snorlax to shame. She also loved Pokemon, like both of her parents, but her favorite was her fathers Pikachu, who would constantly play with her every chance she got. As Misty fed her daughter, they were unaware of two people watching them, though it was mainly the girl that was watching them, though her attention was mainly focused on Sapphire.

"Oh Wes…she's so cute! When will you and I start a family?" The girl, Rui, asked, and the guy she was talking to just smiled.

"I'm sure we'll be able to start one soon Rui, but we don't have time right now." Wes said, and although Rui frowned, she knew Wes was right. She just turned to face her boyfriend, and she smiled at him, causing Wes to smile in turn.

"Plusle!" Yelled the small, red electric Pokemon that was sitting in Rui's lap, demanding attention from his 'mother', as he liked to consider her.

"Oh, Plusle, you know you're just as much as part of my family as Wes and his other Pokemon." Rui said, and she gave the small electric Pokemon a hug, which he enjoyed getting from her.

When Ash and Brock finished purchasing supplies, and after Misty finished feeding Sapphire her lunch, the three walked outside to continue their journey, unaware of two very annoying people waiting for them.

"Hahaha!" Came a voice from above, and the three trainers looked above them and saw a hot air balloon in the shape of a Meowth, which could only mean one thing.

"Team Rocket!" The three trainers yelled angrily in unison, and the two Pokemon thieves appeared from the basket of the balloon.

"Well, well, well, look at that Jessie, it looks like the originals twerps are together again, and they have their little twerpette with them." James said, and Misty got angry instantly, hearing Team Rocket insult her daughter.

"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT MY BABY LIKE THAT!" Misty yelled, and Team Rocket got scared for a quick second before regaining their posture.

"I gotta say James, seeing these three together again after such a long time makes me feel nostalgic; what do you say about giving them our good old original motto?" Jessie asked.

"I'm game for that." James said, and the two prepared their old motto.

"Just when I was starting to enjoy the peace and quiet." Ash said in an annoyed huff.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team Rocket, blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, dat's right!"

"Can't we just have one adventure without you three getting in our way!" Ash asked, and Team Rocket just chuckled.

"We've been chasing after your Pikachu for thirteen years, and we're not going to stop until we get it!"

"You've been after Pikachu for thirteen years, and you never successfully stole him! What makes you think today will be any different!" Brock asked.

"Because, we came up with a full proof plan that can't possibly fail." Jessie said. "James, fire it up." Jessie ordered, and James pressed a button on a small remote, and two large vacuum tubes appeared from the side of the balloon basket.

"You idiots are using da vacuum again! That's never worked before!" Meowth yelled, but Jessie just punched Meowth on the head.

"Quiet you dolt! This time the plan is going to work!" Jessie said.

"Mommy…I'm scared." Sapphire said, and she dug her face into Misty's shirt, but Misty just smiled.

"Don't worry sweetheart; the last thing you need to be scared of is these three morons." Misty said.

"Hey!" Jessie yelled.

"We heard that!" James yelled.

"What's your point?" Misty asked, and Team Rocket just fell over in their basket.

"You brat! You're going to regret saying that!" Jessie yelled, but Ash was already tired of Team Rocket.

"Pikachu! Thunder Shock!" Ash ordered, and Pikachu jumped in the air, and sent lightning towards the hot air balloon, but a small metal rod poked through the bottom of the basket, directed the lightning towards, doing nothing to the balloon.

"Hahaha! See? Our glorious plan is already working; the lightning rod on the bottom of our balloon is sending Pikachu's electrical powers into the vacuum, powering it up." Jessie said, and Ash growled.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Rui was watching the confrontation through the window near the table her and Wes were sitting at, getting worried for the travelers.<p>

"Wes, don't you think we should help those three travelers? I think the people in the balloon are trying to steal their Pokemon." Rui said, but Wes didn't look concerned.

"I think they have it under control Rui. Besides, those 'thieves' as you call them, aren't even doing their job properly." Wes said, but Rui wasn't convinced, and was shocked at Wes' attitude.

"Wes!" Rui yelled angrily, and Wes held up his hands calmly and stood up.

"Alright, alright. I'll help." Wes said, and he got out two Poke Balls from his belt, and walked outside the train. "Hey! Losers! Why don't you get lost!" Wes yelled to Team Rocket, and Jessie growled.

"You little punk! Think you're such a tough guy? Fine! Seviper! Go!" Jessie yelled, throwing a Poke Ball, releasing the snake Pokemon.

"Yamask! Go!" James yelled, releasing his Yamask.

"Metagross! Tyranitar! I choose you!" Wes yells, and he threw the two Poke Balls in his hand, revealing the two large Pokemon.

"Metagross." Metagross said, and Tyranitar just roared, causing everyone but Wes to cover their ears.

"Seviper! Poison that Tyranitar with your Poison Tail!" Jessie ordered.

"Yamask. Hit Metagross with Shadow Ball!" James ordered, and the two Pokemon followed their masters ordered, and prepared to attack; Seviper's tail grew purple as the poison built up inside of it, and lunged Tyranitar, and the Yamask charged up a Shadow Ball, and launched it at Metagross.

"Metagross! Levitate to dodge that Shadow Ball!" Wes commanded, and Metagross pull in its four legs, and he started floating off the ground, and started raising higher, causing the Shadow Ball to go right under her, and fly through the air into the open desert. Seviper's tail was about to make contact with Tyranitar, but the large Pokemon caught with its massive three-clawed hand, and made it impossible for Poison to work, due to not being able to make contact with it.

"Seviper! Bite Tyranitar." Jessie ordered, and the snake turned its head, and revealed its two large fangs, and bit Tyranitar, but the armor made it impossible for Seviper's fangs to do any damage, but instead, caused Seviper's teeth to break in two. Seviper instantly started crying out in pain, and squirmed out of Tyranitar's grip, and quickly slithered back to the balloon before curling up and 'jumping' into the basket and onto Jessie, and she realized Seviper couldn't fight anymore, and put him back in his Poke Ball.

"Metagross! Use Meteor Mash on Yamask!" Wes yelled, and Metagross floated over to Yamask, who was getting ready to use another Shadow Ball, but Metagross had already charged its steel arm, and slammed it down onto Yamask, making contact with Pokemon. Yamask was sent flying, and hit James square in the face, knocking the Pokemon out cold.

"Forget you two! I'll show you how a real Pokemon battles!" Meowth said, jumping out of the balloon and landing right in front of Metagross and Tyranitar. "Wow….you two looked much smaller from up in the balloon." Meowth said, his knees beginning to shake in fear. He soon got over his fear though, and pulled out his claws, and swung each arm at both Pokemon. However, the attack didn't so much as mark the two armored Pokemon, Meowth looked at his two front paws, and saw all six of his claws break off. He did his best to keep himself from screaming in pain and fear, but couldn't hold it in for much longer.

"Aaaaaaaaah! Let me back up there! Let me up!" Meowth said, and he jumped so high in the air in fear, he was able to get back up to the balloons height, and landed Jessie and James' head.

"Now, Tyranitar! Metagross! Use Hyper Beam!" Wes ordered, and the two Pokemon charged up large amounts of energy while Team Rocket watched them in fear, knowing what was coming next. Tyranitar and Metagross then shot the stored energy, sending a large beam of colors that was Hyper Beam. Both of the attacks made contact with the balloon basket, causing an explosion to engulf it.

"Aww…and I thought we had them beat this time!" James said, who was now covered in soot from the explosion and was flying through the air at high speeds, just like Jessie and Meowth.

"And I thought thirteen years of doing this would've allowed us to come up with the perfect plan!" Jessie said.

"My claws! My claws! Waaaah!" Meowth cried.

"We're blasting off agaaaaaaaaain!" The three yelled as they disappeared into the sky. *ding*

"Bye Team Rocket!" Misty yelled, taking Sapphire's hand and making it look like she was waving good-bye.

"Hope we never see you again!" Ash yelled, and the three friends smiled as they turned around to face Wes, who was petting his Pokemon.

"You both did a great job! I'm proud of you. Now, get some rest you two." Wes said, and he pulled out their Poke Balls and had them return inside of them.

"Hey, thanks for helping us out with Team Rocket." Ash said, and Wes smiled and nodded.

"No problem." Wes said, and Ash held out his hand.

"I'm Ash Ketchum. This is my wife, Misty, our daughter Sapphire, and our best friend, Brock." Ash introduced, and Wes took Ash's hand and shook it.

"I'm Wes, and this is my girlfriend, Rui." Wes said.

"It's nice to meet you all." Rui said, and the three smiled and nodded. However, not everyone was happy; Plusle, who was watching all the introductions, began crying out loud, wanting attention.

"Oh, right, and this is one of my Pokemon, Plusle." Wes said, and he held his hand flat so Plusle could jump onto it, which he did, and he was so happy to meet new people, electricity started to spark from him.

"Oh he's so cute!" Misty said, getting right in front of Plusle and began petting him. "I bet you and Pikachu would get along just fine!" Misty said, and Plusle looked down at Ash's feet, and saw the Pikachu Misty was talking. Plusle then jumped down from Wes' hand, and walked over to Pikachu, and began speaking to him in their own Pokemon language.

"Plusle plus!" Plusle introduced, and Pikachu just smiled.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu responded, and Plusle smiled and the two continued to enjoy their conversation.

"So Ash, I'm going to take a wild guess about why you're here in scenic nowhere in the middle of Orre; you're here to compete in the Colosseum battles here in Orre." Was guess, and Ash smiled.

"You got that right! I'm going to beat everyone in every Colosseum here, and prove that I'm the NUMBER ONE POKEMON MASTER!" Ash said proudly, but Brock and Misty shook their heads in embarrassment.

"Even after thirteen years of traveling, he's still the same, no matter what anyone says." Brock said.

"Sometimes I find it hard to believe I married him." Misty said, and Ash fell over in shock at his friends comments, and Wes just chuckled.

"Ash, if you're going to compete here in Orre, you're going to have to familiarize yourself with the ways we battle around here." Wes said, and Ash got back up and smirked.

"I already know that you guys prefer to do double battles in all your matches. I also know that you guys fight till all your Pokemon are knocked unconscious." Ash said.

"Good, but you're going to need more that basic knowledge if you hope to win around here." Wes said, and he was going to continue, but two voices interrupted him.

"Well, we found you and your little girlfriend, Wes. I was beginning to lose hope." One of the voices said, and two men appeared, and they were both wearing strange outfits, and equally strange helmets, and due to the Poke Balls they had at their waist, they appeared to be trainers.

"You've caused Cipher a lot of trouble over the recent years Wes, and, now, we're going to take you down!" One of the men and, and Wes rolled his eyes.

"Umbreon! Espeon! Go!" Wes yelled, the man in the blue outfit pulled out two Poke Balls and threw them, revealing a Raichu and a Bayleef.

"Bayleef, use Razor Leaf! Raichu, Thunder!" The man said, and the two Pokemon attacked.

"Umbreon, Espeon, dodge!" Wes ordered, and they did. "Now, Umbreon, bite Bayleef! Espeon, use Psychic on Raichu!" Wes yelled, and Umbreon ran towards Bayleef, jumped up and bit its neck, causing Bayleef to cry in pain, and started try to shake Umbreon off, but it was no use; Umbreon wouldn't let go. Meanwhile, Espeon focused her powers on Raichu, and eventually, her Psychic ability put her in control of the electric Pokemon. Knowing exactly what to do, Espeon got Raichu ready to attack. "Umbreon! Get off of Bayleef!" Wes ordered, and Umbreon jumped off of Bayleef, unaware that its partner was charging up a Thunder Bolt, and aiming at him.

"RaiiiiiiCHU!" Raichu yelled, and a large lightning bolt shot out of Raichu, and flew towards Bayleef, and hit it, surprising its trainer. When the lightning ceased, Bayleef fell over unconscious. The man recalled his Bayleef, leaving only Raichu, who was released from Espeon's psychic control.

"Umbreon! Use you're secret power!" Wes ordered, and the rings around Umbreon began to grow brightly as he looked at Raichu, and the Pokemon began spinning around for a few seconds before stopping to face his trainer.

"Raichu?" The man pondered, and the Raichu just looked at him confusedly, and attacked his trainer with a Thunder Bolt. "Aaaaaaaaah! Raichu return!" The man ordered, realizing his Raichu couldn't fight anymore. Wes, realizing he and his Pokemon won the battle, smirked as the first man stepped back, and the second one took his place.

"Grr…I'll show you! Haunter! Bulbasaur!" The man yelled, throwing his two Poke Balls, and a Haunter and Bulbasaur appeared, ready to fight. However, when Ash looked at the Bulbasaur, he noticed dark smoke coming from the Pokemon, though it wasn't on fire, which confused Ash, and Rui spoke up.

"Wes! The Bulbasaur has a Dark Aura!" Rui yelled, and Wes nodded, knowing what to do, and Ash looked at Rui.

"So she can see it too…" Ash said to himself, but his friends overheard him, and looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean Ash?" Misty asked, though Ash didn't answer her.

"Espeon, use Psybeam on Haunter!" Wes ordered, and while his Pokemon attacked, Wes pulled out an Ultra Ball, activating the Snag Machine on his left arm, and threw Snag Ball at Bulbasaur. To everyone's shock, beside Wes and Rui, five finger like beams shot out of the Ultra Ball, and pulled Bulbasaur into the ball, despite being owned by the other trainer. The Ultra Ball shook three times before giving off the signal that the Bulbasaur had been successfully captured. Meanwhile, Haunter took a direct hit from Espeon's Psybeam, knocking it unconscious instantly.

"No! My Pokemon!" The man yelled, and he called back Haunter.

"You won't get away with this Wes!" The first man yelled.

"Yeah! Cipher _will_ take you down one day!" The other yelled, and the two took off running. Wes just turned around and saw that Ash, Mist, Brock, and Pikachu were shocked about what they saw.

"What was that!" Misty asked, and Wes realized why three of them were upset.

"You stole that trainers Pokemon!" Brock accused.

"And I have a very good reason for it." Wes said calmly.

"You're no better than Team Rocket!" Misty yelled, but Ash finally spoke up.

"Misty, Brock, I think Wes may actually have a good reason for stealing that Pokemon." Ash said, and Misty and Brock looked at their friend, completely shocked.

"What do you mean Ash!" Misty asked.

"There was something…odd about that Bulbasaur." Ash said, and now it was Wes and Rui's turn to be shocked.

"What do you mean Ash? It looked like a regular Bulbasaur to me!" Misty said, but Ash shook his head.

"I could see a…dark haze or smoke or something come from that Bulbasaur…" Ash said.

"You mean a Dark Aura…" Rui asked, and Ash nodded.

"Yeah! You could see it too! Couldn't you Rui!" Ash asked, and Rui nodded.

"Yes, and there was a reason why that Dark Aura was there Ash; the organization those two Peons mentioned before they battled Wes, Cipher, they artificially closed the door to that Pokemon's heart, making it a Shadow Pokemon." Rui explained, and Ash and his friends gasp at what they heard.

"What!" Ash exclaimed.

"Why would they do that!" Misty asked, but suddenly, she felt a small hand tug on her shirt.

"Mommy, it's hoooooooot…" Sapphire whined, and Misty looked at her daughter pitifully.

"Aww…you guys, can we continue this conversation inside?" Misty asked, and Wes and Rui nodded as they made their way back into the shop.

* * *

><p>Two hours went by while Wes and Rui explained Cipher and their Shadow Pokemon plan to Ash and his friends, while making sure to leave out as much details as possible about Wes' former involvement with Team Snagem, though he did explain that he broke into the Team Snagem base and stole the portable Snag Machine shortly before the base was destroyed by a traitorous member. They explained everything else though in detail, from the time Wes and Rui met, to defeating Nascour and Evice at Realgam Tower, with a little help from Ho-oh. After finishing their tale, Ash and his friends looked at Wes and Rui in complete shock, finding the tale unbelievable, though they believed it anyway.<p>

"So yeah…that's the whole story. But despite Nascour and Evice being in prison, Cipher continues to operate in Orre somehow, most likely due to their Admins." Wes said, and Ash, who was now holding a sleeping Sapphire, just grunted.

"Wes…I want to help you and Rui bring down Cipher!" Ash said, and Misty and Brock nodded.

"Me too!" Misty said.

"Count me in! We can't let them continue those sick experiments on Pokemon!" Brock said.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, sparks emanating from his cheeks.

"I appreciate that. But I don't want you guys getting involved. The kind of stuff Rui and I do is dangerous, life threatening even." Wes said, and Rui nodded.

"Yeah, Wes and I can handle this. Besides, I'd feel awful if your involvement got your daughter hurt…or worse." Rui said, but the three didn't change their minds.

"You guys need as much help as possible to bring these guys down! And don't worry about Sapphire; I'll protect with my life before I let anything happen to her, and my Pokemon are willing to protect her too." Ash said.

"Wes…maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a few more people helping us. We've been battling Cipher for six years now, and we're no where close to bringing them down. Perhaps we should let them help." Rui said, and Wes thought over the idea for a few minutes, before finally sighing and nodding.

"Fine. You guys want to help, you can help. But if things get too out of hand, and threaten any of your lives, especially Sapphire's, I want you three to get out of here and save yourselves. And I don't want to hear 'after the mission is over', or 'just give us another chance'. Things get too hot, I want you three to get out of harms way _immediately_! Understand?" Wes offered, and the three of them nodded.

"So, what's our first plan then?" Ash asked.

"We should probably head to Phenac City and stock up on more supplies, plus we can allow our Pokemon to rest better there. It's about a couple of hours west from here." Wes said, and they continued to talk about their plan, unaware that Team Rocket was listening in.

"Hmm…those Shadow Pokemon sound like they're really powerful." Jessie said quietly.

"Yeah; I bet if we got a couple of those Pokemon, we'd be unbeatable!" James said.

"Or…" Meowth said, butting into the conversation.

"Or?" Both Jessie and James asked.

"We break into dis Cipher joint and steal da formula for making dese Shadow Pokemon, and give it to da boss! He'll be so pleased he'll be like 'I'm so impressed with you Meowth; you helped me get da Shadow Pokemon formula, give da most powerful Pokemon in da whole world! You really are my top cat!'" Meowth said, imagining sitting Giovanni's lap, being petted by his boss.

"Hey, you're right! He'll make us rich if we give him that formula. We'll be able to live the rest of our lives in luxury!" Jessie said, both Jessie and James both started day dreaming about living the good life, and Meowth realized what they were doing, and used his newly sharpened claws to scratch both of them in the face.

"Will you two focus! We have to find out where dese Cipher guys work!" Meowth said, but that caused him to be attacked by both Jessie and James. However, all three stopped being so loud when they saw Wes, Rui, Ash, and the others walk outside the train, and Team Rocket started hiding.

"So Wes, how are you and Rui going to get to Phenac?" Brock asked, and they saw Wes get in the drives seat of a strange vehicle; a motorcycle, though it had one big wheel in the back, and a sidecar with what looked like a repulsor on it.

"So this is your ride?" Ash asked, and Wes nodded.

"Yeah. This baby is my Sand Bike; she can go up two hundred and fifteen miles an hour, making it faster than a Skarmory at top speed." Wes said, proud of his machine, and Ash was admiring the bike, until Misty grabbed him by his collar and dragged him away from the bike.

"Misty! What are you doing!" Ash asked.

"Keeping you away from Wes' bike! You know what happens every time you make a new friend that has a bike!" Misty said teasingly, and Ash's head just dropped down.

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Ask asked as she took Sapphire from him.

"What kind of wife would I be if I did that?" Misty asked with a smile, but Ash's comment quickly destroyed it.

"A good one…" Ash said, but before he realized he said it too loud, Misty was already starting to tear up, taking Ash's words seriously.

"Misty, wait! I didn't mean that! You _are_ a good wife. A _great_ wife!" Ash said, trying to make Misty feel better, but she wouldn't smile.

"Sure Ash…you're just saying…" Misty was cut off when Ash pulled Misty into a deep kiss, trying to prove that he was sincere.

"No, I wasn't just saying that." Ash said, and he wiped Misty's eyes for her, and gave her another kiss. "You're a wonderful wife Misty." Ash said, and Misty smiled.

"Thanks Ash." Misty said, and she eventually returned Ash's hug, although Sapphire was getting squashed by her parent's show of affection.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Sapphire yelled, and the two parents broke off the hug so their daughter wouldn't feel so constricted, and the two laughed when as they both held Sapphire, who was giving them a dirty look for nearly crushing her.

"Does that happen often?" Wes asked, and Brock chuckled.

"You get used to it." Brock answered.

"Okay. Ash, Misty, pay attention. Just keep heading west and you should see Phenac City with two to three hours." Wes explained, and the two Pokemon trainers nodded while Ash got out three Poke Balls and released his Charizard, Fearow, and Pidgeot. Ash got on his Charizard, Brock got on Fearow, and Misty, being the lightest of the three, got on Pidgeot. The three trainers took off in the air, and Wes pressed down on the accelerator, making his bike go top speed towards Phenac City, and the three trainers followed their new friends towards their next adventure.

A/N: I hope you guys like my first Pokemon story. I must admit, I'm a little nervous; I feel my knowledge of Pokemon is mediocre at best, like I don't even know if Meteor Mash, which is a Steel type move, would've actually hurt Yamask, which is a Ghost Pokemon. If I'm wrong about that, please forgive me; I've tried to going to Bulbapedia, but I when I typed in the website, it gave me something completely different, so I just went to Pokemon(dot)wikia(dot)com, and I'm not sure if that's a reliable source, though it does seem like it. Or maybe I'm just being dumb and they're the exact same thing. Either way, I hope you guys still like this story; your reviews will encourage me to keep writing, so please review, but don't flame me. Though I will take constructive criticism.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Before you begin reading, just so you know, PokeSpeak, as I call it, will be displayed in **bold**.

Ch. 2

After two hours of traveling through the unforgiving desert, Ash and his family finally reached the oasis that was Phenac City. The three adults were surprised to find so much water in the middle of the desert and at first thought it was a mirage. But when they landed at the main gate leading into the city, they were quickly greeted by Wes and Rui, who had kindly gotten them water bottles, they realized what they were seeing is real. Wes and Rui proceeded to show the three around the large city, including the main Colosseum and the pre-Colosseum.

"Pre-Colosseum?" Misty asked, and Wes nodded.

"Yeah, it's where people go to practice their skills in double battles before heading on to the main Colosseum in the middle of the city." Wes explained.

"Well, I want to go ahead and go to the main Colosseum! I'm ready!" Ash said confidently, but Misty and Brock sighed.

"Ash, can't you let us rest for awhile? We've been traveling for three straight days, and I'm sure your Pokemon are tired." Misty said, and Pikachu nodded exhaustedly, suddenly looking like he was about to pass out.

"Aww…but Misty, we just got hear, and I'm itching to battle already!" Ash complain, but Misty, who was also tired, exploded.

"ASH KETCHUM, IF YOU DON'T LET US REST RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET THAT YOU EVEN WANTED TO BECOME A POKEMON TRAINER!" Misty yelled, and Ash knew that he wasn't going to win this 'discussion', so he started shaking his hands and laughed nervously.

"Okay, Misty, okay…Wes, where's the nearest hotel?" Ash asked, and Wes chuckled.

"Just a couple of blocks away; it's right next door to a Pokemon Center, so you can drop off your Pokemon with Nurse Joy while we get you guys some rooms." Wes said, and he led the three to the Pokemon Center, and when Nurse Joy walked in with one of her Chansey, she smiled when she recognized Wes.

"Hello Wes, Rui. It's good seeing you two again." The Pokemon doctor greeted, and Wes and Rui smiled.

"Likewise Nurse Joy." Wes said politely, and the next he knew, Brock shoved Wes to the side. He had the wind knocked out of him from hitting the ground but recovered in time to get up, and see Brock take one of the Nurse's hands in one of his own, get on one knee, and stare at her lovingly.

"Oh Nurse Joy! I was worried that I wouldn't see you again! That this desert would separate us!" Brock said, and Wes and Rui sweat dropped, and Nurse Joy was creeped out by the stranger's announcement of undying love for her, although they never met.

"Uhhh…Misty? What's Brock doing?" Rui asked, and Ash shook his head.

"He does this every time he sees a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny, no matter where he is." Misty answered.

"Nurse Joy, you are the most beautiful person I've met ever since I've entered this forsaken desert!" Brock said, and Rui was starting to get angry.

"Wait a minute! He's met me!" Rui said, and Wes was starting to get nervous.

"Well Rui, he probably already knew that you were my girlfriend when he first met us." Wes said, trying to get Rui to calm down, but she wouldn't listen to him.

"Hmph!" Was all Rui said as she stomped over to Brock, grabbed him by the collar, began beating the living daylights out of him. She was moving so fast, a dust cloud started to appear between her and Brock, and neither of them could be seen. The only thing that could be made out was the sounds of Rui's thrashing, and Brock begging for mercy.

"Wow…she's…scarier than Misty…" Ash said, but his only response was Misty's infamous mallet hitting Ash on the top of the head, and Sapphire laughing at seeing her dad clutch his head and groan in pain.

"You want to say that again Ketchum!" Misty asked, and another groan in pain was her answer. "I thought not." Misty said.

"Rui's like an angel, and I love her very much, but if you make her made by insulting her looks, which is what Brock basically did in her eyes, well…everyone else wants to make sure they stay out of her way, but you _canNOT _escape her anger." Wes said, and the three continued to watch Rui pummel Brock, though Misty was also making sure Sapphire's eyes were covered from the violence. After a good five minutes of thrashing, Rui finally showed Brock mercy, stopping her onslaught of attacks and allowing the dust to settle, revealing that Brock was covered in bruises, his clothes were torn, and had several large bumps on his head. Though Rui walked off without a single scratch, and was smiling satisfyingly.

"So, Ash, Misty, you still want to check into that hotel? It's the most beautiful one in all of Orre." Rui said cheerfully, giving them a small giggle, and the couple were sweat dropped again, and were both mortally terrified of what she did to Brock.

"Ow…what did I do to deserve that?" Brock asked, and Wes chuckled as he, Rui, Ash, and Misty walked over to Nurse Joy and gave her their Pokemon.

"Oh, Wes, I noticed that you still have one more Poke Ball on your belt. Do you want me to take care of that Pokemon too?" Nurse Joy asked, but Wes shook his head.

"No thanks Nurse Joy; this is a Pokemon I have to take care of myself." Wes said, and Nurse Joy understood what Wes meant by that, and just simply nodded.

"Well, if you guys will return in just a few minutes, I'll have your Pokemon back to perfect health." Nurse Joy said happily, and the group thanked Nurse Joy, and made their way to the hotel that was next door. Wes paid for the three rooms he and his friends would be needing, as well as paying for full access to the PokePark; a park in the back of the hotel for Pokemon to relax and play with other Pokemon. After getting everything settled into their rooms, the trainers picked up their Pokemon from the Center, and went to the Park so their Pokemon could relax.

"Alright everyone, come on out!" Ash yelled, throwing all six of his Poke Balls into the air, and they all opened, revealing his Charizard, Pidgeot, Fearow, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Bayleef. Misty did the same, releasing her Staryu, Starmie, Gyarados, Horsea, Marill, and Psyduck. Brock released his Chansey, Sudowoodo, Croagunk, Steelix, Forretress, and Ludicolo. Wes released his Pokemon, which consisted of his Umbreon, Espeon, Metagross, Tyranitar, Houndoom, and the Bulbasaur he Snagged at the Outskirt Stand. Rui also had a Poke Ball, but it just contained the Plusle she and Wes received from Duking in Pyrite Town, so she let him out as well. Wes let most of his Pokemon do what they want, but he had Bulbasaur stay in his lap, and he started massaging the Pokemon.

"Wes, why aren't you letting your Bulbasaur play with the others?" Misty asked.

"Misty, you have to remember that this is a Shadow Pokemon. I have to open the doors to its heart, and then purify it first, before I let it loose; it could hurt itself, other Pokemon, or other people, and I can't let that happen while I'm taking care of it." Wes explained as he continued trying to massage the Pokemon, though it would occasionally squirm.

"It doesn't look any different than any other Bulbasaur." Misty said.

"If you saw it battle, you'd know something was wrong with it." Rui said, and she started helping Wes by feeding it some Pokemon food.

"Well, _I_ can tell." Ash said, looking at the Bulbasaur, still seeing the Dark Aura around it.

"Well, you must have some control over Aura then Ash. It's a lost form these days. I can't make it take on a physical form some people could a long time ago. Though I have heard of a certain Pokemon that still can; they call it Lucario, though I've never seen one, so I don't know if that's true." Rui explained.

"I've met one once, back when I still a kid." Ash explained, and he noticed that Sapphire was chasing after Pikachu and Plusle. "Sapphire, be careful!" Ash said, though his daughter wasn't in any apparent danger.

"So Wes, do you give your Shadow Pokemon any special Pokemon food other than the stuff they sell at the PokeMarts?" Brock asked, and Wes shook his head.

"Orre isn't resourceful enough to have any naturally grown resources, so our Poke Marts here, even in here in Phenac, have to use mainly artificial ingredients." Wes said.

"What! How could you let your Pokemon eat such garbage! Don't you know what that could do to them!" Brock asked, and Wes just rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you here me Brock? Orre is too barren to grow natural ingredients for PokeFood." Wes repeated, and Brock sighed.

"Well, lucky for your Pokemon, I always carry more than enough food to go around, so if they want to try some of mine, they can go ahead." Brock said.

"Thanks Brock, I'm sure they'll appreciate the change. Why don't you go ahead and give some to Rui so she can continue feeding my Bulbasaur?" Wes asked, and Brock happily obliged. They five adults continued to talk, unaware that Sapphire was still running around with the Pokemon. They were all enjoying themselves, when Sapphire looked outside the gate of the Park, and saw a group of Pokemon, consisting of a Cubone, Beldum, Geodude, and a Squirtle.

"Pokemon!" Sapphire exclaimed happily, and walked over to the fence, hoping to get closer to them, but when she reached the fence, she got upset because she could go any further. However, when she looked over near the other fence wall, she noticed a small hole at the bottom of the fence, which was small enough for her to crawl through. So, Sapphire ran over to the hole, and began crawling through, and quickly got on the other side. However, Pikachu noticed that Sapphire had disappeared.

* * *

><p>Pikachu started looking around, starting to panic, but sighed when he saw her walking on the sidewalk.<p>

"**Wait! Sidewalk!"** Pikachu said to himself, and he quickly ran over to Ash and started jumping up and down. **"Ash! Ash! Ash! Ash!"** Pikachu yelled, hoping to get his trainers attention.

"Not now Pikachu; Wes is telling about some of his battles against Cipher. We can play later." Ash said, not even bothering to turn around, and Pikachu got mad, wanting to zap his master for not paying attention. But as Sapphire rounded the corner, he realized there wasn't time to wait for the humans to notice him, so he started chasing after Sapphire himself, going through the hole she crawled out of, but he noticed he wasn't the only one leaving the park.

"**Pikachu! Where are you going?" **Plusle asked, not wanting his new friend to leave.

"**Ash's daughter has gotten out of the park! I have to return her before she gets hurt!"** Pikachu said, and Plusle was shocked.

"**What! That's awful! Let me help you look!" **Plusle offered, and Pikachu nodded.

"**Thank you Plusle!" **Pikachu said, and the two took off into the city, hoping to find Sapphire before something terrible happened to her.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sapphire continued to chase after the wondering Pokemon, but none of them seemed to notice her, and they were much faster than her, and she'd normally lose sight of them for a couple of seconds before seeing them continue across the sidewalk. However, as she saw them turn into an alley, she continued to follow them, but when she walked into the alley, the Pokemon were nowhere to be found. But that didn't stop Sapphire from trying to follow them; she walked into the alley, looking everywhere for the Pokemon, but they just disappeared. Sapphire was starting to get upset again, after losing sight of the Pokemon, but she continued to search nonetheless, her search eventually leading to a construction sight.<p>

After Wes finished his story of fighting the Cipher Admin known as Miror B., he looked around and noticed that something wasn't right.

"Hey Ash…what happened to your daughter?" Wes asked, and Ash turned around to try and look for Sapphire, but he got scared instantly when he didn't see her.

"Hey, Pikachu and Plusle are missing too!" Rui said, and she started looking around the park, but she couldn't find the two, and was starting to worry.

"Sapphire?" No answer. "Sapphire!" Still nothing. "Sapphire!" Ash yelled, and Misty was already running all over the park, trying to find her daughter, but she was nowhere to be seen. As Misty realized the horrible truth, she felt her heart shatter.

"She's missing…Sapphire's missing!" Misty yelled, and everyone was shocked at news, and Misty began crying, and Ash wasn't too far behind her, both being worried sick. "This is all _YOUR_ fault!" Misty yelled, pointing to Ash, and he jumped back.

"What! Me!" Ash asked in utter shock, and Misty got right in his face.

"YOU were supposed to be watching her! YOU turned your back on her, and SHE ran off!" Misty yelled, and this was hurting Ash as much as the fact that Sapphire was missing.

"Bu…but Misty…" Ash stuttered, but Misty wouldn't let him speak.

"Just SHUT UP! If anything happens to Sapphire, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Misty yelled, and Wes got between them and spread the two apart.

"Enough! We'll never find Sapphire if you two just stand here like idiots, yelling at each other! Houndoom! Metagross!" Wes summoned, and his two Pokemon walked over to their trainer. "Metagross, Ash's daughter is missing; I need you to take to the skies and look for her. She has red hair and is wearing a blue dress, and is a couple of feet tall." Wes ordered, and Metagross nodded as he pulled in his legs and started levitating into the air, and slowly started flying deeper into the city. "Misty, do you have anything that might have Sapphire's scent?" Wes asked, and Misty went through the baby bag she carried around with her, looking for anything that might suit Wes' needs, and found the perfect thing.

"Sapphire's stuffed Eevee doll, it's her favorite." Misty said, and Wes snatched the toy and put it in front of his Houndoom.

"Boy, I need you to get Sapphire's scent. Can you do that for me?" Wes asked, and the Houndoom began smelling the toy. "Okay, when Houndoom picks up the scent, I'll go with him. Ash, Misty, I want you two to go east and look for Sapphire in that area. Rui, Brock, you two search the west. Ash, have your flying Pokemon search the north." Wes so, and everyone nodded, except for Brock, who was nervous about traveling with Rui.

"Uhh…Wes, are you sure me traveling with Rui is such a good idea?" Brock asked.

"Brock, there's no time to complain. Just do what I say!" Wes said, and Brock, realizing that Wes was right, nodded, and Houndoom began growling and jumping around. "The scent's weak, but it'll have to do." Wes said, and he took off with his Houndoom, who was running where the scent is strongest, while the rest of the group followed his orders.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Sapphire! Sapphire!" <strong>Pikachu called out, hoping to find his little friend, but she was gone.

"**Where do you think she went?" **Plusle asked, and Pikachu shook his head.

"**Sapphire is always getting into trouble, but it's never been this bad; she hardly ever leaves Ash and Misty's sight….*sigh*….this is so unlike her…" **Pikachu said sadly, and they eventually came across an empty alley.

"**Do you think she went through here?" **Plusle asked, and the two electric Pokemon went into the alley, but saw no sign of Sapphire, until they saw a nearby construction. **"*gasp* PIKACHU! LOOK UP THERE!" **Plusle yelled, pointing at the construction, and the mouse looked up and saw a familiar red head wearing a blue dress, walking across I beams on a half-finished building.

"**SAPPHIRE!"**

* * *

><p>Sapphire loved big construction machines, so when she saw the construction site, filled will giant machines as far as her tiny eyes could see, she got excited immediately and ran into the empty construction through a hole in the barricades that was supposed to keep non-construction workers out. As she walked through the site, she saw piece of wood that was leaning against an I beam, so she got on her hands and knees, and began crawling on it until she got onto the beam, and got back on her feet, and started walking across it, hoping to find ways to get high on the building.<p>

* * *

><p>"Sapphire! Sapphire! Sapphire, where are you, sweetheart! It's daddy!" Ash called out, searching desperately for his beloved daughter, but she was nowhere to be seen. Misty, however, she kept her head down and letting tears roll down her cheeks as she sobbed. Ash was aware his wife his crying, but he knew that if they stopped for a second, Sapphire could possibly get hurt during that time. But it got harder and harder for him to stop and comfort his wife with every passing second, until eventually, he stopped, turned around, and pulled Misty into a caring hug as he let her cry into her shoulder. "Hey, hey, everything's going to be fine Misty, we'll find her." Ash said reassuringly.<p>

"I'm a horrible mother…" Misty said outright, and Ash just let Misty let out her emotions as she continued to cry.

"No you're not Misty…don't say things like that." Ash said as he rubbed Misty's back.

"Yes I am…and I shouldn't have blamed this on you Ash…I'm so sorry…" Misty said, and Ash just smiled.

"Don't be. You were right Misty; it was my fault that Sapphire disappeared. I should've kept a better eye on her." Ash said.

"No…it was just as much my responsibility to watch her was it was yours, so I'm equally to blame." Misty said, and Ash pushed Misty off of him so he could wipe her tears away and look into her bloodshot eyes.

"We'll get through this Misty, I promise; we'll find Sapphire, and be a complete family again." Ash said reassuringly, and kissed Misty's forehead, causing his wife to smile at his confidence, as it was rubbing off onto her.

"You're right Ash…though…we'll need Pikachu to be a full family." Misty said.

" I think Pikachu was trying to tell me about Sapphire while we were in the Park…oh man, I'm such an idiot!" Ash said, hitting the side of his head.

Well, if Pikachu knows where Sapphire went, when we find her, we should find Pikachu." Misty said, and the couple continued their search, unaware that Team Rocket was listening on them again in a nearby bush.

"Did you hear that?" Jessie asked, and James nodded.

"It sounds like the twerp's twerp has gone missing." James said.

"And Pikachu with ta go find her!" Meowth said, and Jessie nodded.

"That means…" Jessie said, allowing James to continue for her.

"We find the twerp…" James said, and let Meowth finish the rest.

"We find Pikachu!" Meowth finished, and three chuckled as they started their own search.

* * *

><p>"Brock, do you see Sapphire anywhere?" Rui asked as the two walked through the city.<p>

"N…no, I don't." Brock answered nervously, and Rui sighed when she realized why Brock was so shaky.

"Uhh…heh, heh...I'm sorry about what happened at the Pokemon Center, Brock." Rui said, scratching the back of her head. "It's just that…Ash explained why you were acting so weird around Nurse Joy, and I guess I got a little jealous when I learned that you do that to all pretty girls, but you didn't do it to me. I do tend to be a little vain from time to time, especially when it comes to my looks." Rui explained.

"Oh, well…I suspected that you and Wes were together, and I didn't want risk getting Wes mad, because he looks like he'll beat anyone that looks at you. Guess I was worried about the wrong person." Brock said with a laugh, and Rui chuckled.

"Oh, you were right to be concerned about Wes; if anyone tries to take me away from him, he'll possibly kill that person; he's extremely jealous and protective, though not too much that he won't let me live my own life." Rui explained, and she stopped and held out her hand to Brock. "Friends?"

"Friends." Brock said, shaking Rui's hand, and the two continued their search.

* * *

><p>After searching for almost twenty minutes, Ash and Misty made a turn down a nearby alley, where they soon heard a familiar voice.<p>

"Pika! Pika! Pipipi!"

"That's Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed.

"And it sounds like he found Sapphire!" Misty added, and they took off down the alley, and followed Pikachu's voice until they finally exited the alley, and saw a construction site. The two jumped over the barriers, and eventually saw both Pikachu, and Rui's Plusle.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled happily, but they noticed that Pikachu was jumping excitedly, and pointing up at the half-completed building. Ash and Misty looked at where Pikachu was pointing, and was completely mortified at what they saw; Sapphire, somehow at least ten stories off the ground, walking on an I beam.

"I think I'm going to faint…" Misty said, feeling her legs getting weak, and Ash just looked determined.

"I'll be right back Misty." Ash said, and he started walking towards the building.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Misty asked as Ash walked into a nearby construction elevator.

"Getting our daughter back." Ash said, and he activated the elevator, and continued climbing up until he reach Sapphire's level. "Hang on Sapphire, I'm coming." Ash said, and he started walking across the series of I beams, careful not to lose his balance.

"Be careful Ash…" Misty whispered, praying that neither Ash nor Sapphire fell; if either of them fell and died, Misty would be completely devastated, but if she loss both of them, she wouldn't be able to go on. Ash, however, wasn't going to let his fear of falling stop him from reaching Sapphire; he slowly but surely got closer, and eventually got close enough for Sapphire to hear him.

"Sapphire!" Ash called, and his daughter turned around and smiled.

"Daddy!" Sapphire called out.

"Sapphire, just stay where you are. Let me come to you." Ash said, and Sapphire just simply nodded as Ash put one foot in front of the other, slowly getting closer. However, things weren't easy, since a strong wind was suddenly blowing. _'Just perfect, this is exactly what I need; a strong enough gust, and Sapphire and I could be sent flying.'_ Ash thought to himself.

"Drat! The twerps already reached Pikachu! And this time I thought were a step ahead of them!" James whined, but Jessie just smiled.

"Not to worry; we'll just use Plan B." Jessie said, and Meowth looked at each other in confusion.

"Huh? Plan B?" The two asked at the same time, and Jessie just smiled.

* * *

><p>Although the wind was strong, Ash was determined to get to Sapphire so they could both get down safely. He was just three steps from being within arms reach of her, when suddenly, a black claw grabbed her from behind, and pulled her away from Ash.<p>

"What!" Ash asked in shock, when he heard a familiar laugh coming from a building across from him.

"Hahaha!" The laugh continued, and Ash looked over the direction Sapphire was pulled, and could see the source of the laughter; Jessie and James from Team Rocket.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Give me back my daughter!" Ash demanded instantly, not wanting to put up with Team Rocket again.

"Hush boy! You'll get your little runt back!" Jessie said.

"After you give us Pikachu!" James said, and Ash just growled.

"Daddy!" Sapphire yelled out, scared out of her mind.

"I'm coming sweaty, don't worry!" Ash said, when suddenly, an extremely powerful gust of wind blew, and Ash lost his balance, starting to shake back and forth as the wind continued to blow, eventually causing Ash to fall. "Aaaaaah!"

"Ash! NO!" Misty yelled, closing her eyes, not wanting to see her husband fall to his death. And Ash continued to fall, knowing that this was the end. As he continued screaming, he closed his eyes, waiting for the final *splat*, when he felt something grab his ankle, and stop falling. Ash was confused, so he opened his eyes, and saw a familiar Metagross floating in the air, holding onto him.

"Metagross!" Ash asked, and Misty opened her eyes, seeing Metagross holding onto Ash, just as Wes and his Houndoom run over.

"Nice catch Metagross. Now put Ash down _gently._" Wes said, putting a lot of emphasis on gently for some reason. Metagross then slowly lowered down to the ground, stopping just a few feet above the ground. Figuring that he was close enough to the ground, Metagross let go of Ash, though he was still a few feet off the ground, and he fell on his head with loud *thud*. "That's…good enough, I suppose." Wes said, scratching the back of his.

"Ash!" Misty yelled, running over to Ash and helping him up. "Ash…are you okay?" Misty asked sincerely, as Ash sat on the ground, getting on her knees so she was eye level with him.

"Yeah Misty…I'm fine. I just have a headache." Ash said, and Metagross went over his trainer, and got back on his legs.

"Good work buddy. Now, Hyper…" Wes started, but Ash got on his feet and ran in front of Wes.

"Wait Wes! Team Rocket took Sapphire!" Ash said, and Wes gasped in shock, and got angry instantly at realizing the situation.

"What is with those guys!" Wes asked.

"They want Pikachu!" Ash explained, and Wes growled.

"Those rotten…" Wes started, but he saw Rui and Brock run over.

"Ash! We saw you fall the building! Are you alright!" Brock asked.

"Yeah Brock, _I'm _fine, but Team Rocket has Sapphire!" Ash yelled, and Brock and Rui gasped as well.

"You know our terms; bring Pikachu, and you'll have your runt back!" Jessie said, and the three took off with the hostage in tow.

"SAPPHIRE!" Misty called out, and Ash didn't even bother wasting any time; he took off down the alley next to the building, looking for way to scale it, when he eventually found a ladder. Ash immediately started climbing, with Wes right behind him. As the two climbed, Team Rocket where at the edge of that side of the building, hoping to jump across to the next, but when they looked down, they froze when they saw Ash and Wes climbing the ladder, but James quickly got an idea.

"Cacnea! Use Acid on the ladder!" James commanded as he threw the Poke Ball, and Cacnea jumped out the ball, but instead of melting the ladder, it jumped and started hugging James' head. "Ah! Cacnea! The ladder! Not me! The ladder!" James yelled, and Cacnea jumped off of her trainer and sprayed acid on the top of the ladder until it was completely melted off the building and started shaking.

"Ash! Be careful!" Wes yelled, and the ladder started falling back. "JUMP!" Wes yelled, and both jumped off the ladder. But instead of jumping to the side, Ash jumped up towards the roof of the building, and luckily grabbed onto the edge, and held on for dear life as he pulled himself up. As Wes fell, however, he knew that he could possibly break his leg from the impact, but Metagross appeared out of nowhere and caught him. "Thanks Metagross. I owe you big time." Wes said, petting his Pokemon before swing off his arm and landing on top of Metagross' head. "Now, take me to the top of this building. And cut off Team Rocket's escape once I get off." Wes ordered, and Metagross started going towards the top of the building.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Misty, Brock, Rui, Pikachu, and Plusle waited anxiously for their friends to return safely with Sapphire, when suddenly, Officer Jenny drove over on her motorcycle and stopped next to the group.<p>

"What's going on here! There have been reports of yelling and people falling off this building! Don't you know it's illegal to be in a construction zone! Not to mention dangerous!"

"Officer Jenny! Team Rocket kidnapped my daughter, and now my husband and his friend are chasing after them on the rooftops!" Misty explained.

"What! That's terrible! I'll call in assistance right now!" Officer Jenny said, and she pulled out her radio. "All forces in Phenac City; a group of Pokemon thieves have been spotted in the area. They have kidnapped a child and are on foot escape. They are being chased by two Pokemon trainers. I repeat, they are being chased by two Pokemon trainers." Jenny said, and she put the radio up, and Brock decided to try and get close to Jenny.

"You have a real interesting job; perhaps when you're off duty, you'd like to come with me for Pizza and…talk about it." Brock offered, and Jenny just ignored him, but Misty, however, didn't.

"ASH AND SAPPHIRE ARE IN TROUBLE, AND YOU'RE HITTING ON OFFICER JENNY!" Misty ask furiously.

"Perhaps we can talk later." Brock said to Jenny, and Misty grabbed Brock by the collar and proceeded to give him a similar beating to the one Rui gave him at the Pokemon Center, except this one was much worse.

* * *

><p>Once Wes reached the top of the building, he quickly caught up to Ash, who was still chasing after Team Rocket, and was slowly catching up. After a few minutes of running, and jumping over the gap between buildings, Team Rocket was about to try and get away, when Metagross appeared in front of them, not at all happy to see them.<p>

"Great! This guy again! Seviper! Go!" Jessie said, and she threw her Poke Ball, and Seviper appeared, and was ready to fight, until he recognized who his opponent was; once Seviper saw that he was going against the same Metagross that caused him and Yamask trouble earlier, he immediately ran back to Jessie and opened his own Poke Ball so he could get inside. "Grr…coward."

"Yamask still hasn't recovered from the last time he fought that Metagross, so…Cacnea, looks like it's your turn." James said, and Cacnea, who was still out of her Poke Ball, jumped forward and was ready to battle. Metagross then got on the ground and made the building shake under his weight.

"Meta. Gross." Metagross said, and Cacnea got scared instantly, and ran behind James in fear.

"Huh? Meowth, what did Metagross say that scared Cacnea?" James asked, and Meowth's legs started to shake.

"He said 'Mmm…lunch.'" Meowth translated, and James started shaking.

"I see why you got scared. Meowth, you're going to have to fight Metagross then!" Jessie said, and Meowth suddenly took Sapphire from James.

"What are talking about! I'm hold da runt!" Meowth said, and Sapphire took that opportunity to try and escape; she opened her mouth, and chomped down on Meowth's arm. "Me….OWTH!" Meowth yelled, dropping Sapphire so he could look at his arm.

"You idiot! You let her get away!" Jessie yelled.

"She bit me!" Meowth yelled back.

"That brat couldn't have had more than four teeth!" James responded. Meanwhile, Sapphire took that opportunity of freedom and ran as fast as she could towards her father. Seeing his daughter running towards him, Ash got on his knee and opened his arms for her as she jumped into him, and gave him a tight hug, something Ash gratefully returned.

"Oh Sapphire…Thank goodness you're alright. I was so worried about you." Ash said, tears of relief rolling down his cheeks.

"I love you daddy." Sapphire said, and Ash hugged her even tighter.

"I love you too, Sapphire." Ash said, and Wes just looked at his friend happily, proud that he was able to help reunite the two.

"Grr…great. We lost again. Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but blast off again." Jessie said, when suddenly, a large amount of whirring could be heard as helicopters lowered and surrounded the building Team Rocket was on.

"Halt! You are under arrest for kidnapping, and the attempted stealing of a Pokemon Trainers Pokemon. Surrender!" One of the pilots ordered, and the three thieves looked around, seeing that they were completely.

"Jessie, what are we going to do?" James asked, starting to get scared, apparent by his shaking knees.

"Relax. I always have an escape plan." Jessie said, and she pulled out a remote, and suddenly, the ground outside Phenac City started to crumble, until a metal drill poked through. The machine that was pushing the drill appeared out of the ground a few seconds later, revealing to be Team Rocket's original Gyarados sub, which was modified for under_ground_ travel. Attached to the sub was rocket silos, and Jessie pressed the button on the remote again, and rockets began flying from the silos, towards the helicopters. The pilots were able to move out of the way in time, but that gave Team Rocket an opened, and they ran over to a nearby ladder, slid down, and ran out of the city, and towards the sub. Once they got in, the three powered up the sub, and got ready to drill into the ground again.

"Metagross! Use Hyper Beam on that sub!" Wes ordered, and Metagross began to build up energy, and a few seconds later, as the sub pointed down, towards the ground, Metagross unleashed the energy in his Hyper Beam, making a direct hit on the sub. The sub was destroyed in an explosion, and three figures could be seen flying out of the explosion.

"Augh! Beaten again! I'm starting to hate that man!" Jessie yelled.

"Well, I felt sour for kidnapping that kid anyway…" James said.

"We're blasting off agaaaaaaaaain!" *ding*

* * *

><p>When Ash and Wes returned to their friends, they were rushed with hugs from everyone, overwhelmed with happiness, seeing them alive and well, especially Sapphire, except she passed out from exhaustion due to all the excitement.<p>

"ASH! SAPPHIRE! You're alright! Oh…I don't know what I'd do if I lost either of you!" Misty yelled, wrapping her husband and daughter in tight hug, though careful not to wake Sapphire. Ash began laughing, letting all his happiness overwhelm him as he wrapped an arm around Misty and hugged her back. "I'm so happy you two are safe…I've never been so scared in my life!" Misty said, tears flooding her cheeks as she let her emotions pour out of her.

"Yes Misty…we're alright. We're safe…and we're a complete family again. Just like a said we would." Ash said, and the two broke the hug, just so they could passionately kiss each other for several minutes.

"Wes, are you alright?" Rui asked, practically jumping onto Wes.

"Yes Rui, I'm fine. Things couldn't have turned out better for everyone. Ash and Misty have their daughter back, and Team Rocket was beaten once again." Wes said, kissing Rui similar to the way Ash was kissing Misty.

"Wes." Misty said, causing him to break his kiss with Rui and pay attention to Wes. "I'd like to thank you for helping us get Sapphire back. If it wasn't for you…things could've turned out much different…much worse." Misty said, doing her best not to think about what could've happened if Wes wasn't with them.

"It was my pleasure Misty. I'm just glad I could help, though, our Pokemon did more work than us. It's them we should all thank." Wes said, and Misty nodded.

"You're right off course, but still, if we didn't have you and your Pokemon with us…Ash would dead…and who knows what would've happened to Sapphire." Misty said.

"Misty's right Wes. I owe you and Metagross my and Sapphire's life." Ash said, and Wes just smiled.

With all the excitement over, the gang returned to their hotel to rest, and when they arrived, they were greeted by Officer Jenny, who was explaining the situation.

"Well, Team Rocket may have gotten away, but if they ever come back, we'll be waiting for them." Jenny said, and the group thanked for her efforts.

"So about that Pizza…" Brock asked, when suddenly, he felt someone hit his back, and he suddenly lost all feeling in his back as the poison from Croagunk's Poison Jab spread throughout his body. Once Brock collapsed on the floor, Croagunk proceeded to drag Brock to his room, while the others just laughed.

* * *

><p>Although it was well passed midnight, Misty was too scared to go to sleep; she was worried that she'd wake up and see that Sapphire was gone again. So, instead of sleeping, she just sat on the bed her sleeping daughter was in, and gently stroked her red hair, careful not to wake her up.<p>

"Misty, aren't you coming to bed?" Ash asked, sitting up since he couldn't go to sleep.

"I'm too scared Ash; I'm worried that I'll go to sleep, and Sapphire will have vanished again when I wake up." Misty said, and Ash just smiled as he got up, walked over to Misty, and slowly sat down next to her, careful so he wouldn't wake Sapphire.

"She's fine now Misty. She'll be in that tomorrow morning when you wake up, I promise." Ash said, and he started trailing soft kisses on her cheek and neck, causing Misty to smile.

"Okay." Misty said, and Ash got of the bed, and Misty was about to stand up, when she found herself being wrapped in Ash's arms, and lifted off the bed, and carried towards her own. Ash then proceeded to lay Misty down and tuck her in for her. "Ash Ketchum, since when did you become so caring?" Misty asked.

"Oh, about five years ago I think." Ash said, and Misty just chuckled, realizing that Ash was referring to the day they got married. Finally at peace, Misty closed her eyes and got some much needed sleep, thankful for having such wonderful friends, and a loving husband.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Just so you guys know, _'italics' _Wes' thoughts in this chapter

Ch. 3

When Misty woke up the next morning, she opened her eyes, and thanked Arceus that Sapphire was sound asleep in her bed, just like Ash promised she would be. Misty then turned over on her bed, and saw that Ash was already awake.

"Good morning." Misty said cheerfully.

"Well, you're in a good mood this morning." Ash said, and Misty nodded.

"Sapphire's safe; why wouldn't I be in a good mood with that being the case?" Misty asked, and Ash just smiled.

"We should probably go ahead and get up; who knows when Rui and Wes wake up." Ash said, and Misty nodded as they got out of the bed.

"Ash, just let Sapphire sleep in today, since she went through a lot yesterday." Misty said, and Ash just nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to get breakfast." Ash offered after getting dressed, and Misty took that opportunity to get dressed herself. Ash returned about twenty minutes later, carrying a large try consisting of breakfast food, such as eggs, pancakes, toast, cereal, sausage, bacon, and other food and drinks of the sort, and Pikachu was on his shoulder, holding onto a big bottle of ketchup.

"Wow Ash, it all looks so good! Thank you!" Misty said, and Ash looked like he made a mistake.

"Oh…did you want something to eat too?" Ash asked, and smoke started to fume from Misty's ears at the comment, and Ash started to chuckle. "Relax, I'm kidding." Ash said, and he put the food on a nearby table, and the two started to eat, hoping that they wouldn't make too much noise, so they wouldn't wake up Sapphire, but smells of the food woke her up anyway. Sapphire then crawled out of bed and ran over to her parents.

"Oh Sapphire, we didn't wake you, did we?" Misty asked worriedly, and Sapphire shook her head.

"I smelled breakfast." Sapphire answered tiredly, and Misty smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"She is _definitely_ your daughter." Misty said to Ash, and Ash rolled his eyes at her.

"Very funny." Ash said sarcastically, and the family of four proceeded to eat their breakfast, though Ash had to feed Sapphire's to her himself. They all finished eating about an hour later, and after they were all had their equipment ready, they went to lobby and saw that Brock, Rui, and Wes were waiting for them.

"Good morning everyone." Misty said warmly, and Brock and Rui responded with a 'good morning' as well, but Wes just nodded. "So what are the plans for today?" Misty asked.

"Well, after yesterday's experience, I think we should just relax for the day." Wes said, and the group nodded in agreement, though Ash had a determined look on his face.

"I'm itching for a Pokemon battle!" Ash said, and Misty rolled her eyes.

"What else is new?" Misty asked, and Ash just shot her an annoyed glare, which actually caused Misty to remember something. "Ash, while things are quiet, perhaps now would be a good time to call your mom back home and let her know we reached Orre safely." Misty recommended, and Ash nodded.

"Good idea." Ash said. Although Ash was twenty-three years old, his mother still had him call her every now and then to let her know he and his family was safe and well. Ash went over to the Pokemon Center and went to a nearby video phone and dialed the number for his mom's house in Pallet Town, but instead of Delia answering, her Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime?" The Pokemon answered.

"Hey Mr. Mime! It's Ash!" Ash said, Mr. Mime smiled.

"Mime!" Mr. Mime said, and a few seconds later, Delia appeared on the screen/

"Hi Ash!" Delia said, and Ash smiled.

"Hey mom. Just wanted to let you know that we reached Orre alright." Ash said, and his mother smiled.

"That's great honey! How's Misty and Sapphire?" Delia asked, and Ash bent down for second, and reappeared again with Sapphire in his arms.

"Gramma!" Sapphire yelled happily.

"Hi sweetie! Oh you look so pretty today!" Delia said, and Sapphire laughed happily, when Misty appeared on the screen.

"Hi Mrs. Ketchum! How are you doing this morning?" Misty asked.

"Just fine Misty. Mr. Mime and I are just about to pick vegetables from the garden. Oh Ash, Professor Oak called me just the other day; he asked me to tell you to call him the next time you have the chance." Delia said, and Ash nodded.

"Alright mom, I'll call him right after I'm finished talking with you." Ash said, and Delia nodded.

"Good. Now Ash, Misty, Sapphy, I'd love to talk to continue you three, but I gotta go. You guys behave yourselves, and Ash, always remember to change your 'you-know-what' everyday." Delia said, and Ash fell over in embarrassment.

"Mom!" Ash yelled, and Delia smiled.

"Bye honey. I love you!" Delia said, and Ash smiled.

"Love you too mom." Ash said.

"Love you Gramma!" Sapphire yelled.

"I love you too sweetie! Be sure to mind your mommy and daddy!" Delia said, and she hung up the phone, and Ash smiled, glad to hear from his mom again, but the smile went away when he heard chuckling.

"Nice mom you got there." Wes said with a smirk, and Ash turned around and growled.

"Yeah, well, I bet my mom is way nicer than yours!" Ash said, and Wes' smirk turned into a frown instantly, and Misty elbowed Ash's sides.

"That's real mature Ash Ketchum!" Misty scolded, and she noticed that Wes looked really depressed. "Great, now you hurt his feelings!" Misty scolded quietly. "Ash didn't mean to offend you. I'm sure you have a great mom." Misty said, but Wes didn't perk up.

"She was…" Wes said, and Rui put her hand on one of Wes', and looked at him pitifully.

"Wes doesn't…have a mom anymore…he's an orphan…" Rui said sadly, and Ash and Misty gasped in shock.

"Oh Wes…I'm so sorry…I didn't know…" Ash said, and Wes held up his hand.

"Of course you didn't…how could you? I'm…going to take a walk…I'll be back later." Wes said, and he stood up, and left the group to themselves. When Wes got out of sight, Misty punched Ash in the arm.

"You are completely inconsiderate of people's emotions!" Misty yelled.

"No…no…Ash didn't do anything wrong. Besides, how could he know about Wes' past?" Rui explained. "For Wes' sake, I'm not going to explain it without his permission, but I'm sure you'll find out more about him as you get to know him more. But…please just let it go. Don't even apologize to him when he gets back." Rui said, and although Ash felt like he did need to apologize, he nodded to Rui. "Thank you, Ash." Rui said, and a couple of minutes later, Wes ran back to his friends. "Wes…what's wrong?"

"I got an email from Duking; he's received from information from Nett about Cipher movement. We have to go to Pyrite, now!" Wes said, and Rui nodded as she stood up. "Ash, you guys follow us, but go as fast as you can; we have absolutely no time to waste!" Wes said, and the five made their way out of the city. After Ash, Misty, and Brock got on their flying Pokemon, Wes took off on his sand-bike, and his friends were right behind him.

* * *

><p>"Now just as a warning, Pyrite Town is pretty rough. Misty, if you want to wait outside of town, that'll be just fine." Wes said, but Misty took the advice as an insult.<p>

"Hmph! I can take care of myself THANK YOU very much!" Misty said angrily, but Wes remained calm.

"I meant for Sapphire's sake." Wes said, and Misty looked at her daughter.

"Sapphy, I don't want you talking to any strangers, okay?" Misty said, and she picked her daughter.

"Yes mommy." Sapphire said, and the group walked into the town, and Sapphire was looking around, when she saw a man standing in the shadows. The man looked at Sapphire, and smiled creepily at her, causing Sapphire to dig her head into Misty's shoulder. When the group enter Duking's building, the large man stood up, and greeted everyone with a nod.

"Wes, Rui. I'm glad you two could get here so quickly. Who are your friends?" Duking asked.

"These are our new friends; they're from the Kanto region. This is Ash Ketchum, his wife Misty, and their daughter, Sapphire, and their friend Brock." Rui introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you." Duking said, and the three nodded.

"Well, now that introductions are over; Duking, you said you had some information about Cipher for us." Wes said.

"Yes…unfortunately, it's not good news." Duking said cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Wes asked, already getting in a bad mood.

"It seems…that Cipher has found the ability to continue their plans…outside of the Orre Region; they've gone global." Duking said, and everyone, even Wes, showed their surprise at the news.

"What? How is that possible?" Rui asked.

"Nett was able to hack into an old Cipher program that was tracking the organizations progress, and it shows that Cipher is continuing their Shadow Pokemon plan in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and even Unova, each under the command of one of their Admins. To make matters worse, the program crashed right as Nett discovered the information, and he wasn't able to get exact locations on Cipher's main headquarters in the regions, or who's leading the operations in each area." Duking said, and Wes' fists were balled tight.

"This can't be happening…six years of work…_ 'Six years of Rui's life…'_ "…wasted…" Wes said with both anger and sadness in his voice, but Rui walked over to Wes, and slapped him, surprising everyone, especially Wes.

"No! Don't talk like that Wes! You make it sound like we failed! We haven't! Things might have gotten harder, but that won't stop us; I know it won't! It'll take a lot more than this to stop you! We still have a job to do, and we're going to do it! We WILL take Cipher down!" Rui said, and Wes smiled at Rui's pep talk, and nodded.

"You're right; nothing will stop us! Cipher is going down, no matter what!" Wes said, and Rui nodded.

"Wes…" Ash said, walking over to the other Pokemon trainer. "…where it is you're heading, we'll come with you! You won't take on Cipher alone; we're with you, one hundred and ten percent, all the way!" Ash said.

"Yeah!" Misty said.

"That's right!" Brock said.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu joined in, and Wes smiled.

"Thanks Ash…that's means a lot. Rui and I really appreciate this." Wes said, and Rui nodded.

"Well, it's nice to know the saying about silver linings is true." Duking said, and Wes nodded.

"Now we just need a plan on how we're going to do this." Wes said, and Duking pulled out a dusty map of the world, listing all the regions. "I think our best course of action would be to head to Kanto, via ship; we can reach Vermilion in a couple of days. After that, we'll have to reach the biggest city in the area; that'll be the most likely hiding spot for Cipher. You guys are from Kanto, which city do you guys think is the largest?" Wes asked.

"Celadon, no doubt." Brock said, and Ash and Misty nodded in agreement.

"Okay, Celadon it is. What's the best way to reach Celadon from Vermilion?"

"We'll want to reach Route 16, that'll get to us to Celadon in three days on foot." Brock said.

"Alright, good. Now…all that's left is getting a ticket at Gateon Port for a ship, and getting to Kanto." Wes said, and everyone nodded, when suddenly, there were three large 'thuds' and the ground started to shake. Everyone went outside to check what happened, and they were surprised to see Entei, Suicune, and Raikou standing outside of Duking's home.

"Entei? Suicune? Raikou? What are you three doing here?" Wes asked.

"**We are here to help you again, Wes."** Entei said telepathically, and Wes looked at them in shock.

"What? But don't you three have more important matters to attend to?" Rui asked.

"**More important than saving the Pokemon of this world? I don't think things get more crucial than that Rui." **Raikou responded and Rui made a 'duh' look when she realized what she asked.

"Wait a minute…Wes; you know Entei, Suicune, and Raikou?" Ash asked, and Wes nodded.

"I saved them, actually." Wes answered, and the three Kanto trainers looked at him in shock. "Cipher was actually able to outsmart the three Legendary Beasts, capture them and turn them into Shadow Pokemon." Wes continued.

"**Indeed he did, and we are forever indebted to you and Rui for helping us; I don't want to think of the evil deeds we would've committed for Cipher as Shadow Pokemon." **Entei said, and Wes smiled.

"It was my pleasure, my good friends." Wes said, and he pulled out three Ultra Balls. "I still have your PokeBalls, so we're all set right now."

"**Good, then let us be on our way." **Entei said, and Wes had the Legendary Beasts return to their PokeBalls. Everyone then went back into Duking's house, and Wes used a nearby computer to get tickets to the Kanto Region via cruise liner.

"Alright then. That's everything. Duking, will you keep an eye out for Cipher movement while Rui and I are gone?" Wes asked, and Duking nodded.

"Of course; you can count on me Wes. Good luck you two, and be careful." Duking said, and the two nodded.

"Well you guys, let's get on our way." Wes said, and they all left Pyrite, ready to begin their grand adventure of stopping Cipher's worldwide plans.

* * *

><p>When the group arrived at Gateon Port, the whole place was bustling with people and boats going in and out. As the group tried to find their ship, Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock were awestruck by the magnificence of the port.<p>

"Our boat should be around here somewhere; it's called the S.S. Anne II." Wes said, and Ash, Misty, and Brock stopped walking. "Is something wrong, you guys?"

"We…had bad experiences with the original S.S. Anne." Misty said, and Wes smiled.

"Don't worry, whatever it was, I'm sure it won't happen again." Wes said, but three Kanto trainers were skeptical. They continued to make their way through the port, when Pikachu's acute hearing heard something.

"Pika?" Pikachu mumbled to himself, and he jumped off of Ash's head, and started running.

"Wha? Hey Pikachu! Where are you going?" Ash said, taking off towards his friend, and Misty, Brock, Wes, and Rui took off after them. After a couple of minutes of running, Pikachu stopped at a small cliff where a beach was below them, and saw something that horrified him.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled, and Ash quickly caught up.

"What is it Pikachu?" Ash said, and Pikachu pointed towards the beach, and saw three guys surrounding what looked like a Pokemon. Ash got a better look and saw that the Pokemon was small Dratini. Ash also saw one of the guys holding a piece of driftwood, and hitting the Dratini with it. The Dratini gave off a painful yell, and Ash was instantly infuriated with what he was seeing. His friends quickly caught up with him, and when they saw what was going on, they quickly shared Ash's feelings.

"Hey!" Wes yelled, jumping down the edge of the cliff and sliding down onto the beach. Ash tried the same move, but he didn't land quite right, and instead of sliding down, he rolled down the hill. But when he got down to the beach, he quickly recovered and caught up with Wes, who was running towards the guys abusing the Dratini. "What do you three idiots think you're doing!" Wes asked angrily, and the three guys looked at him, annoyed.

"What's it look like? We're trying to get my Dratini to evolve, that way it'll be powerful and be useful for battles." The guy said, but the comment made Wes and Ash sick.

"That's NOT how you raise a Pokemon you Neanderthal!" Wes yelled, and the guy smirked.

"It's MY Pokemon, so I'll raise it however I want! So why don't you go bother someone else?" The guy said smugly, and turned around and raised his arm to hit the Dratini again, but Wes grabbed the guys arm, keeping him from harming the Pokemon again.

"And why don't you stop hurting the Dratini before I knock all your teeth out?" Wes replied, and the guy turned around to face Wes completely. At first, it looked the guy was going to say something else smart, but he quickly swung his arm holding the driftwood, hoping to hit Wes in the head with the lumber, but Wes grabbed his arm, and hit the guys elbow with his free arm, causing it to bend in the opposite direction with a loud 'pop', and he dropped the driftwood he was holding, which Wes caught with his free arm, and swung it towards the guy's head, hitting him square in the jaw, and the guy fell down onto the ground, unconscious. Wes turned to the guy's two friends, and one of them charged at Wes, ready to attack, but one punch to the gut from Wes knocked the guy down. With just one of thee three left, Wes turned to take out the third friend too, but he already took off running in fear. Wes smirked, but it quickly disappeared when he remembered the Dratini. Wes looked at the ground, and saw the small dragon was covered in bruises and small cuts. Wes reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of Super Potion, and kneeled towards the Dratini, but when it looked at Wes, it got scared and started backing away slowly. "Wait, I'm just trying to help you." Wes said, but the Dratini didn't believe him. Wes reached out to pick up the Dratini, but it bit his hand, but that didn't stop Wes; he grabbed the Pokemon gently and held it in his arms. "Nurse Joy will know what to do." Wes decided when he heard a motorcycle drive towards. Wes turned around and saw that it was Officer Jenny riding over to them.

"Wes! I'm glad I was able to find you; Rui told me you were taking care of a couple of guys abusing a Pokemon. Is that it?" Jenny asked, and Wes nodded.

"Yes ma'am. And that's two of the punks over there, unconscious. Unfortunately the third one got away." Wes said.

"Well, what matters right now is getting that Dratini to the Pokemon Center. I'll get you there in no time at all." Jenny said.

"Thanks Officer Jenny." Wes said, climbing into the side car. "But can you hurry, this Dratini might be hurt badly, but it still has some fight in her, and I'm not sure how long I can keep my grip on her. Ash, go find the others and tell them to meet me at the Pokemon Center." Wes said, and Ash nodded.

"Right." Ash said, and Jenny pushed on the accelerator of her bike, and sped off towards the Pokemon Center, hoping to get there in time to save Dratini.

* * *

><p>As soon as Jenny and Wes reached the Pokemon Center, Wes jumped out of the side car and ran into the Pokemon Center, where a Chansey was at the front desk.<p>

"This Pokemon needs help immediately!" Wes said, and the Chansey pressed a button on the counter, and three other Chansey's ran in, carrying a stretcher. Wes put Dratini in the stretcher, but it tried to jump out. The first Chansey caught Dratini, and got some straps from under the stretcher and strapped Dratini onto the stretcher so it wouldn't escape. Right before Dratini was taken away, Wes looked Dratini in the eye, hoping to comfort her. "Dratini, these Pokemon are going to help you get better; there's no reason to be afraid." Wes said, and Dratini gave off a small cry before being taken to the back. A few minutes later, while Wes took a seat in the main lobby, Ash and the others ran in and saw where Wes was sat next to him.

"So how's Dratini?" Rui asked.

"She's in Nurse Joy's care now, so I'm sure she'll be fine…can't help but worry though." Wes said, and Officer Jenny walked in.

"Wes, I just wanted you to know that we arrested all three of the trainers responsible for hurting the Dratini, and they'll be stripped of their rights to carry, train, and battle Pokemon for their crimes, so they won't be causing anymore problems again." Jenny said, and Wes smiled.

"Thanks for telling me Officer Jenny. I can't thank you enough; we might not have gotten Dratini the help she needs in time." Wes said.

"It was my pleasure to help Wes." Jenny said, when suddenly, Brock sprang out of nowhere in front of Officer Jenny.

"Oh Officer Jenny, you're courage and willingness to help people and Pokemon can only be matched by the feelings my heart feels for you!" Brock said, and Jenny was getting uncomfortable, until Misty and Rui came to the Officer's rescue by each grabbing onto one of Brock's ears and pulling him away.

"Is he seriously doing this again?" Rui asked Misty.

"Like we said yesterday; he does this every time he sees a beautiful girl." Misty said, ignoring Brock's complaints until they reached a nearby couch.

* * *

><p>Six hours have passed ever since Wes arrived with Dratini, and each minute that passed, the gang got more and more anxious about hearing the status of Dratini, Wes especially; he wouldn't take his eyes off of the doors that led to the Emergency Room where Dratini was in. But eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the light that indicated Nurse Joy was working on a Pokemon went off, and the Pokemon Nurse walked out, and all five ran to the Nurse.<p>

"Nurse Joy, will Dratini be alright?" Wes asked, and Nurse Joy smiled.

"Dratini will be just fine; she's resting right now, but after a good night sleep, she'll be good as new." Joy said, and everyone sighed in relief.

"Thank you Nurse Joy." Rui said with a large smile, and Joy smiled in return, but it disappeared when Brock appeared.

"You have done us a great favor Nurse Joy; perhaps I could thank you by taking you out to dinner or a movie." Brock said, and Rui and Misty were about to pull Brock away again, but a flash of white appeared from his belt, and Croagunk appeared, and poison jabbed Brock, paralyzing him. "Or…we could take a rain check." Brock said as he fell over, and Croagunk dragged Brock away from Nurse Joy.

"Well, at least we have Croagunk to help us keep Brock under control." Misty said.

"You know, I think Croagunk feels the same way." Rui said, and the two women giggled at the thought. Now that the situation was calm, the trainers went back to the lobby, and they all felt a great weight being lifted from their shoulders.

"Well, now that that's over, we need to get a new ticket for a ship." Wes said, realizing that they missed their ship. Wes then got up to try and get his tickets refunded and new tickets for a different ship.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, while everyone was asleep, Dratini woke up in the middle of the night, and crawled out her bed, and made her way to the trainer guest rooms, where she found Wes, the trainer that saved her earlier, and smiled. Dratini then jumped onto Wes' bed, slithered onto his chest and coiled up and went to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>The next morning, Wes woke up with the feeling of something pressing down on his chest. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't something Wes was used to, so, he opened his eyes, which grew wide in shock when he saw the Dratini from the day before, sound asleep on his chest. When he saw the sleeping Pokemon, Wes made sure not to wake it up, but was curious about why it was asleep on his chest. A few minutes later, Dratini opened its eyes, looked at Wes, and yawned. When Dratini finished stretching its body, it slithered to Wes head, and rubbed its head under Wes' chin.<p>

"Uhh…good morning." Wes said, and Dratini gave off a happy cry. A few seconds later, Rui, who was sleeping next to Wes, got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Wes, who are you talking to?" Rui asked, and when she opened her eyes, she was just as shocked as Wes was when she saw Dratini. "Dratini!" Rui said in shock, and when the dragon looked at Rui, it yelled happily at Rui, and jumped to her. Rui caught the Pokemon, and it began rubbing its head on Rui like it was to Wes.

"I don't get it; Dratini didn't want anything to do with humans yesterday, but now she's practically smothering us." Wes said, and Rui chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious Wes? Dratini is grateful that you saved her from those awful trainers." Rui said, and Wes agreed. When the others woke up, they too were surprised to find Dratini, but they quickly realized that Dratini remembered that it was Wes that saved her, so she was showing her gratitude. When everyone was out in the lobby, they found Nurse Joy looking frantically for something, and they all knew that it was Dratini.

"Nurse Joy. Are you looking for Dratini?" Wes asked.

"Yes! I can't find her…" Nurse Joy started, but when she turned around and saw Wes holding Dratini, who was sound asleep, she gave a sigh of relief.

"Dratini apparently snuck into our room last night and wanted to be with Wes." Rui explained.

"Oh I see. Well, by the looks of it, I'd say that Dratini is feeling much better already. It also looks like she's taken a real liking to you Wes." Nurse Joy said, and Wes smiled.

"I guess she has." Wes said, and he started petting Dratini's head, and an idea popped into Nurse Joy's head.

"Wes, I think it'd be best for Dratini if she'd go with you on your journey. You and your friends seem to be the only few humans she'll trust now. Do you think you can take her with you?" Nurse Joy asked, and Wes nodded.

"I think she'd make a great addition to my team." Wes said, and Nurse Joy smiled.

"I'm glad you think so." Joy said, and Dratini woke up from her map, looked at Wes, and smiled.

"I'll get you a PokeBall to carry Dratini around in." Joy said, and she went to a count and got a spare PokeBall and was about to hand it to Wes, but when Dratini saw the PokeBall, she swung her tail and knocked it out of Nurse Joy's hand. Everyone was surprised at first, but they realized what was going when Dratini jumped onto Wes' shoulder and rested her head on Wes'. "I think she doesn't want to be in a PokeBall."

"Guess not; she must be like Pikachu." Wes said, and he smiled as he petted Dratini again.

"All passengers of the S.S. Aquas to Kanto; boarding is taking place now." A voice over the intercoms outside said, and the group said their goodbyes to Nurse Joy before heading to their ship.

"I can't believe this Wes; three days of doing nothing but relaxing on a luxurious cruise ship. How can I ever thank you?" Rui said, but Wes' mind was far from the idea of relaxing.

"Rui, this isn't a vacation. Don't forget; we're going to Kanto to hunt down Cipher; we need to be focused on the task at hand." Wes said, and Rui rolled her eyes.

"I know Wes, but there's nothing against the rules of saving the world that says the heroes can't relax when they need to." Rui said, walking over to Wes and wrapping her arms around him. "Besides, if anyone out of the five of us needs to relax, it's you."

"Rui, I just can't think about doing nothing when the Pokemon of the world are in danger." Wes said, and Rui sighed.

"You're impossible." Rui said sadly, and Wes sighed in return.

"Alright, if it'll make you feel better, I'll try to relax for the next few days." Wes said, and Rui smiled ear to ear.

"Good. Now…can I borrow some money? Misty and I are going to go shopping in the stores on this ship, try and find us some swim wear." Rui said, and Wes rolled his eyes and gave Rui the money.

"Don't spend it all on one place this time." Wes said, and Rui kissed Wes on the cheek as a thank you.

"Don't worry, I won't." Rui said, and she walked out of the room with an evil-like smile on her face.

"Arceus, help me."

* * *

><p>To be continued<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

When we last left our heroes, they went to the notorious town of Pyrite to meet an ally of Wes and Rui, Duking, the Pyrite Colosseum owner, who had news on the criminal organization, Cipher. As it turns out, Cipher had left it's boundaries of the Orre Region and has gone global. Wes was all but discouraged, thinking that Cipher had won, but after a pep talk from Rui and his knew friends, Wes quickly regained his confidence and was more determined than ever to bring down Cipher and their evil plans. Soon after, Wes was reunited with his old friends, the Legendary Beasts, Entei, Suicune, and Raikou, who wanted to rejoin Wes on his mission to save the Pokemon world. Wes and the others then decided to go to Kanto to begin their hunt for the elusive Cipher leaders. Along the way, they came across a Dratini that was being abused by its trainer and his friends. Wes quickly takes care of the trainers and sends them running, but the Dratini was already severely injured by the time Wes had arrived, and all hope for it surviving seemed lost, until Officer Jenny arrived to save the day. Thanks to Officer Jenny's quick thinking and fast riding, they were able to get Dratini to the Pokemon Center in time, and Dratini made a miraculous recovery, and decided to join Wes on his journey as well. Our heroes are now on a luxurious cruise liner, on its way to Kanto, and they decide to take a bit of a break before starting their grand quest.

Ash and his friends and family were enjoying the perfect weather they were experiencing on the cruise; Misty was playing with her water Pokemon and Sapphire in the pool. Ash and Pikachu were training with their Pokemon, hoping to sharpen their skills. Rui was busy working on her tan, and so was Plusle, and Wes was on the pool edge, letting his Dratini swim around while keeping an eye on her, though he was also eyeing Rui while she was tanning. While Dratini was swimming in circles happily, Wes turned around and continued admiring Rui, and Rui, who knew Wes was watching her, smiled and motioned him to come over to her.

"Wes, you go hang out with Rui, I'll watch Dratini for you." Misty said, and Wes smiled.

"Thanks Misty." Wes said, and Ash walked over.

"You better be careful Wes; Misty has always wanted a Dratini of her own, and if you don't watch her, she might take her from you." Ash joked, and Misty threw her arms into the water and splashed Ash. "Hey! Sheesh Misty, I was just joking!" Ash said annoyed.

"Hmph!" Misty replied, and Wes smirked before turning around, but the sight he now saw made the smirk go away; some guy was hitting on Rui. Wes walked over, planning on telling the guy, who obviously had a death wish, to back off. Meanwhile, Misty noticed that Sapphire was watching curiously, so she covered her daughter's eyes.

"Aww…I wanted to see Uncle Wes kick that guy's…" Sapphire said, and Misty heard Sapphire say a word that started with 'a'.

"SAPPHIRE! WHERE'D YOU HEAR THAT WORD!" Misty yelled, and Sapphire was scared.

"Uncle Brock…he was talking about a girl." Sapphire said, and Misty grew red with anger and got out of the pool and looked for Brock.

Meanwhile, Rui was getting bugged by the guy that was hitting on her; he was trying to get her into his bedroom, and it wasn't just the fact that she was happily in a relationship with Wes, though it was a major reason, but the guy was completely arrogant and thought he was a godsend.

"Come on baby; you know want this. Why don't you come with me to my room, and I'll make you feel like a real woman. I have never disappointed before!" The man said, and Rui rolled her eyes.

"Well, they must've had really low standards." Rui said, and the man was getting angry.

"Come on babe; how can you resist this sweet bod?" The man said, and Rui smirked.

"One; I already have a boyfriend, and he's ten times the man you are. Second; I have no interest in Neanderthals that think women always want them. So why don't you leave me alone before my boyfriend knocks out your teeth." Rui said with a smirk, and the guy was about to say something else, when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey, moron, that's my girlfriend you're talking to, so why don't get out of here before I break your face!" Wes threatened, and the punk turned around, smirked, and shoved Wes away. "Listen Richard Simmons, if you don't leave my girl alone, you'll be smelling the inside of your head!" Wes threatened, and this time, the guy tried to sucker punch Wes by turning around suddenly and swinging. But Wes ducked and the fist missed, and Wes swung in return, and his punch landed square onto the guy's mouth. The next thing the guy knew, he was on the floor with a split lip and several of his teeth lying in front of him on the ground. Unfortunately, someone that was witnessing what was going on reported to security, and a man in a uniform ran up and saw the man on the ground, and Wes standing right over him.

"What's going on here?" The guard demanded, and the man stood up and started acting upset.

"Sir, I was just having a nice conversation with this lovely lady right here, when this punk showed up in the middle of nowhere and socked me in my jaw!" The man said, and Rui jumped up at hearing that ridiculous claim.

"That's not true! Officer, this man happens to be my boyfriend; this jerk was hitting on me, trying to get me to sleep with him, so my boyfriend told him to back off. Then the jerk tried to sucker punch my boyfriend, so he punched him back in defense." Rui said, but the guard didn't care which story is true.

"The rules strictly state that there is no fighting amongst passengers; any violators are to be sent to their rooms for the remainder of the day with no access to the rest of ship, except for the dinning hall during meals." The guard said, and the punk was about to say something when the guard held up his hand. "Any repeat offenders or those that refuse to comply will be sent to the detention cell for the remainder of the cruise!" The guard said, and Wes walked off without saying anything, though he was upset to have embarrassed himself and Rui like that. The guard then proceeded to personally escort the jerk to his room, and when the two were gone, Rui ran after Wes.

When Rui got into her and Wes' bedroom, she opened the door and saw that Wes was lying on their bed in dark, just looking at the ceiling.

"Wes? Are you alright, sweetheart?" Rui asked, and Wes shrugged.

"Well, I am a _little_ bugged that I embarrassed myself and you like that." Wes said, and Rui smiled.

"You didn't embarrass me; I'm flattered that you defended me like that from that punk." Rui said, as she put her hands behind her back and started messing the knot on her bikini top.

"Well, still, I can't help but feel I ruined this trip for you." Wes said, and Rui just rolled her eyes as she let her top fall to the floor, and began working on the bottom half of her bikini.

"Just because we're stuck in this room for the rest of the day, that still doesn't mean we can't have…_fun_…" Rui said seductively, but Wes didn't get the message.

"And how do you figure that?" Wes asked, and Rui smirked.

"Just look at me and find out." Rui said, but Wes was confused.

"What do you mean?" Wes asked, and Rui lightly face palmed.

"You are so dense sometimes. Wes, look at me!" Rui said, and Wes lifted his head to look at Rui, and although it was dark, it was easy to tell that Rui wasn't wearing any clothes.

"Oh…now I get it…" Wes said, and Rui smiled as she slowly walked over to the bed and crawled on top of Wes, and gave him very deep and passionate kiss.

The next morning, everyone was doing the same thing they were doing the day before; Misty was in the pool with Sapphire and her Pokemon, Rui was sunbathing, Ash and Pikachu were training, but this time with some help from Wes and Dratini, and Brock was still hitting on women, though they weren't very attracted to the still fresh bumps and bruises that were on Brock's face that get got from the beating from Misty the day before. Misty was bouncing Sapphire up and down in the water, when she noticed that Rui had a dreamy look on her face and was carelessly wrapping her hair around her fingers.

"Sapphire, you want to play with Marill for a little bit while mommy talks with Auntie Rui?" Misty asked, and Sapphire nodded happily. "Okay. Now Marill, you be careful with Sapphire; don't let her head go below the water, understand?" Misty asked.

"Marill! Mar!" Marill said, nodding, and Misty put Sapphire on Marill's back, and the Pokemon started swimming around happily. Misty then got out of the pool and walked over to Rui.

"Rui, what's going on with you; you've been acting a bit…spacey all day." Misty said, and Rui just chuckled.

"Eh…Wes and I spend some…uh…quality time together yesterday after the little incident with that jerk that was causing problems." Rui said.

"What do you mean by 'quality time'…oh… Oh! You mean you and Wes…" Misty asked, and Rui nodded. "Oh…I didn't know you and Wes went that far…" Misty said.

"Well, we do on some occasions. Wes and I were hoping to wait until after we were married…but there was this one evening where we Wes and I were just so…" Rui started, but Misty started shaking her hands.

"I DON'T WANT ANY DETAILS!" Misty yelled, and Rui gave an apologetic look. "I just hope you two are careful, there are a lot of dangers to what you two are doing; that's why Ash and I waited." Misty said.

"Yeah. Like I said, Wes and I wanted that too…the next morning, Wes was completely disgusted with himself, but I told him it was my choice as well, and we'd just have to live with it." Rui said.

"Yeah but…what if you wind up…you know…pregnant? Would you and Wes be ready for that? Or what if you got something else from that?" Misty asked.

"I…I don't know…I don't know if Wes would want to be a father…I don't know if he'd still want to be with me…" Rui said.

"Rui, as a friend, just be careful; you're treading in very dangerous water." Misty said, and Rui nodded in agreement.

"To be honest…this was our second time. But I'll be sure that Wes and I stay in more control from now on." Rui said.

"Well, although I didn't need nor want that first piece of information, I'm glad to hear that, Rui." Misty said, and she went back to the pool to play with Sapphire.

Meanwhile, Ash and Wes were getting ready for a Pokemon battle; it was going to be Pikachu against Dratini. Though since this was Dratini's first battle, Wes was a bit nervous, but Dratini was determined to fight and win for Wes.

"Are you ready Dratini?" Wes asked, and Dratini gave a confirming cry, and looked at Pikachu with fiery determination.

"Hey Pikachu; since this is Dratini's first battle, and is probably a little weak, so go easy on her, alright?" Ash said, and Pikachu nodded.

"This a one-on-one Pokemon battle versus Ash's Pikachu and Wes' Dratini, no time limit!" Brock announced, and a crowd was forming to watch the Pokemon battle. Both Ash and Wes waited patiently for either to make the first move, and it wasn't long until Ash made the first move.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash ordered, and Pikachu ran as fast as he could towards Dratini.

"Dratini, dodge it and use Slam!" Wes yelled, and Dratini jumped out of the way of Pikachu's attack, and lunged at Pikachu, however, Pikachu quickly avoided the attack and got far away so Dratini couldn't try Slam again.

"Pikachu, tackle attack!" Ash ordered, and Pikachu charged at Dratini, and before Dratini could avoid the attack, Pikachu jumped at Dratini, and hit her full force.

"Dratini!" Wes yelled as Dratini flew back a few feet, and hit the ground hard. However, Dratini quickly got back up and was ready to continue the battle. "Dratini, use Dragon Rage!" Wes ordered, and a great ball of energy formed inside Dratini's mouth as she opened it, and after a few seconds of charged, Dratini released the energy and sent a giant cyclone of swirling blue fire towards Pikachu. Pikachu wasn't able to dodge the attack, and took it at full force. Pikachu was sent flying backwards towards Ash, and eventually hit the ground and slid across the floor, stopping right in front of Ash's feet.

"Pikachu! Are you alright?" Ash asked, and Pikachu got back onto his feet, and nodded. "Good. Dratini's a lot more powerful than what I was expecting." Ash said to both himself and Pikachu, and began thinking of a new strategy. "Pikachu, Thunder Shock!" Ash ordered, and Pikachu sent a single bolt of lightning towards Dratini.

"Dratini, use Agility to dodge the lightning!" Wes said, and Dratini began moving at fast speeds, avoiding the each lightning bolt that was flying towards her. However, one of Pikachu's lightning bolts hit Dratini, stunning her.

"Okay Pikachu, now use Quick Attack!" Ash said, and Pikachu ran towards Dratini, while she was still stunned, and hit Dratini hard, knocking her back some.

"Dratini!" Wes yelled in concern, and although Dratini was getting weak from such a hard battle, she was still willing to fight. _'There has to be a way to take away Pikachu's speed, otherwise, Pikachu will just mop the floor with Dratini!'_ Wes thought to himself, when a move came to mind.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack again!" Ash said, and Pikachu began running towards Dratini again.

"Dratini, DragonBreath!" Wes yelled, and Dratini suddenly took a deep breath, and while Pikachu got closer, a beam of colors went flying from Dratini's mouth, and right towards Pikachu, who wasn't able to move out of the way in time to avoid the attack. DragonBreath consumed Pikachu, stopping his Quick Attack and paralyzing him. "Okay Dratini, Slam Pikachu, now!" Wes ordered, and Dratini started charging towards Pikachu, when suddenly, it started picking up a lot of speed, up until the point that it was surrounded by a white aura and flew towards Pikachu at high speeds. "Whoa…that's..." Wes started, and Brock finished the sentence for him.

"ExtremeSpeed!" Brock said, and Dratini flew towards Pikachu, eventually hitting him, and sending Pikachu flying back, and eventually hit the floor and tumbled backwards a ways.

"Pikachu, are you alright!" Ash asked, and Pikachu quickly got back on his feet, and appeared ready to fight, but he suddenly fell forward, unconscious. "Pikachu!" Ash yelled, and he ran to his Pokemon, and picked him up.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Dratini is the winner, and victory goes to Wes!" Brock yelled, and Wes walked over to Dratini, and kneeled down to pet its head.

"You did great Dratini! I had no idea you were so powerful!" Wes said with a smile on his face, and Dratini just smiled and gave a happy roar.

"That Dratini is something else Wes, I can tell she'll be a great member to your team." Ash said, and Pikachu, who had finally woken up, nodded in agreement.

"No doubt." Wes said.

"Well, I'm going to the Pokemon Center to get Pikachu healed up." Ash said, and Wes picked up Dratini and followed him.

"I think I will too; Dratini deserves a rest." Wes said, and an idea popped into Ash's head.

"Hey Wes, when we get to the Pokemon Center, do you think you could show me the Pokemon you captured over the years? You must have come across some powerful ones over the years fighting Cipher." Ash said, and Wes smirked.

"Sure Ash, I'll show you when we get to the Center." Wes said.

After giving their Pokemon to Nurse Joy, Wes and Ash went over to a nearby PC unit, and Wes activated his trainer profile. He then went through his list of Pokemon, showing each and every one to Ash.

"Wow Wes, you sure do have some impressive Pokemon." Ash said, and Wes smirked.

"Thanks Ash, it wasn't easy taking them from Cipher. But I worked hard on each and every one so I could open their hearts and purify them. I also try to rotate them so they all get equal amounts of training." Wes explained, and he continued going through his list, when Ash noticed a very particular Pokemon.

"You have a Togetic?" Ash asked, and Wes nodded.

"Yeah, how I came across this Togetic is actually kind of interesting; after I took down Cipher for the first time, rumors started spreading around that I was using a Shadow Pokemon to attack people. As it turns out, it was a Cipher Peon pretending to be me, hoping to ruin my reputation. However, when I exposed him the fraud he was, it was caught on live T.V., so his plan was ruined. I snagged Togetic from him while it was a Shadow." Wes explained, and Ash was reminded of Misty's Togetic that she had to part with all those years ago.

"Hey Wes…would it be alright if you brought out your Togetic? I'd like to take a look at it for a few minutes." Ash said, and Wes looked at Ash strangely, but nodded.

"Sure Ash, but can I ask why?" Wes asked.

"Well, you see, about thirteen years ago, Misty had a Togepi that she always carried around with her because he thought she was his mother. But after awhile, it evolved into a Togetic, and Misty had to let it stay behind in the Mirage Kingdom to protect the other Togepi's that lived in the Togepi Paradise." Ash explained, and Wes typed a few keys on the keyboard, and Togepi's PokeBall quickly appeared in the transfer port.

"Okay Togetic, come on out!" Wes ordered, and he threw his PokeBall into the air, and it popped opening, letting the Togetic out. It landed on the table Wes and Ash were sitting at, and stood happily, facing its trainer.

"Toge, Togetiiiiic!" Togetic went, and Ash started to chuckle.

"It looks just like Misty's Togetic!" Ash said, and as if on queue, Misty walked in to check on Ash and Wes and their Pokemon.

"So Ash, is Pikachu going to be alright?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, Nurse Joy says he and Dratini are going to be fine. Hey Misty, come check out one of Wes' Pokemon!" Ash said, and Misty hurried over to her husband, and was surprised to find a Togetic.

"You…have a Togetic?" Misty said, surprised, and the Togetic turned around and when it saw Misty, it had a surprised look on its face, and its eyes started to water. It then started to bounce up and down happily before flapping its wings and flying around Misty, tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. "Could…could it be?" Misty asked to herself, and as she heard Togetic call out happily, Misty's eyes started to water up as well, and she brought Togetic into her arms and hugged him tightly. "Togetic…I've missed you so much…" Misty said, and although Wes and Ash were confused, Ash quickly realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute…Misty…are you saying that this is…you're Togetic?" Ash asked surprisingly, but Misty was too choked up to answer.

"I think that's a 'yes' Ash." Wes said, and a soft smile began to form on his face. A few minutes later, Brock and Rui arrived, with Brock carrying a sleeping Sapphire, and they were both surprised to find Misty hugging the Togetic.

"Wes, isn't that your Togetic?" Rui asked, and Wes shook his head.

"Not anymore; apparently this is the same Togetic Misty released over ten years ago in the Mirage Kingdom." Wes explained, and Brock gasped in shock.

"Is that really your Togetic, Misty?" Brock asked, and Misty nodded. "How can you tell?" Brock asked.

"A mother never forgets her baby, no matter how long it's been since they last saw each other." Misty explained.

"That, and the fact this Togetic is acting the way he is around Misty has to be more than just coincidence." Wes explained, and Sapphire quickly woke up, and started hearing her mom crying.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Sapphire asked worriedly, but Misty started chuckling.

"Sapphire…there's someone I'd like you meet; this is my most favorite Pokemon, Togetic." Misty said, and Sapphire looked at Togetic confusedly, and Togetic did the same. "Togetic, this is my and Ash's daughter, Sapphire." Misty said, and when Togetic understood what was going on, he smiled towards Sapphire and started flying around her, and Sapphire began to laugh.

When the cruiser finally ended, Ash and his friends made their way to Pallet Town, which took about two weeks on foot. They were ready to relax, and Wes was ready to discuss plans on stopping Cipher before they achieved world conquest. As they finally entered Ash's small home town, Wes and Rui looked around, admiring the beauty of the tranquil town.

"Nice place Ash." Wes said, and Ash smiled.

"Thanks Wes. I can't wait to introduce you to my Pokemon in Professor Oak's lab, but first, I need to go see my mom." Ash said, as his childhood home came into view from a small hilltop. When Ash and his friends reached the house, Ash was the first one at the door, and quickly knocked on it. "Mom! Mom! We're here!" Ash said, and the door opened, but Ash wasn't expecting the person who opened it.

"Hahaha, it's a couple of years scout. How've you been?"

"Dad!"

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

Ash was certainly surprised to see his dad, which he hadn't seen since Sapphire was born, but he was more than thrilled. Scott Ketchum was telling his family and friends about his recent adventures in the Unova region, which he decided to explore after hearing his sons exploits in that region. After explaining his battle with the Gym Leader, Elasa, Delia brought them their dinner, and everyone was excited about the great food she made for them. Once all the food was placed on the table, they were all surprised that Delia made a feast for them.

"Wow mom, this is incredible!" Ash said, and Delia smiled.

"Well, it's not everyday that both my husband and my son are home, so I went all out for you two, of course, everyone else is welcome to eat as much as they want." Delia said, and no one needed to be told twice. They all got their helpings of food, and Wes and Rui were surprised at how good the food was.

"Wow, you certainly don't get food this good in the Orre Region, even in its few good parts!" Rui said, and Wes nodded.

"Delia, I have traveled this world multiple times, and each and every time, I have never met anyone that cooks anywhere near as well as you!" Scott said.

"Thank you Scott." Delia said happily.

"Mister Ketchum, can I ask you a question?" Wes asked.

"Of course, and please, just call me Scott." Scott said.

"Very well, Scott, when you were in Unova, did you come across any strange or peculiar Pokemon; like they were far more aggressive that what's normal." Wes asked, and Scott thought about the question for a few moments, but shook his head.

"Sorry Wes, I don't remember seeing anything of the sort. All the Pokemon I saw looked normal, both the wild, and the trained Pokemon." Scott explained.

"Okay, they must not have reached Unova yet." Wes said to himself.

"What do you mean by 'aggressive Pokemon', anyway?" Scott asked.

"Well dad, where Wes and Rui come from, there is this criminal organization that they're hunting down called Cipher; what Cipher is doing is they're artificially closing the door to a Pokemon's heart, and it's creating Pokemon that are fighting machines, called Shadow Pokemon." Ash explained.

"Closing the doors to a Pokemon's heart…that's terrible! Why would they do that?" Scott asked.

"They want money and power, and by selling Shadow Pokemon, Cipher gets just those two things." Wes said, and Rui had heard enough.

"Okay Wes, that's enough depressing everyone at this table; Misses Ketchum was nice enough to cook us great meal, so let's focus on enjoying the meal, instead of scaring everyone." Rui said.

"Of course. Sorry everyone." Wes said, and they all continued to eat.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, well past midnight, Wes was looking at a map of the Kanto region, trying to track down Cipher's current location, to where they were most likely stationed, looking at the major cities, hoping to find their hiding spot. Wes was slowly drifting off to sleep, when he felt a small presence snuggle up against his leg. Wes pointed his flashlight to whoever was against him, and saw that it was Dratini.<p>

"Can't sleep Dratini?" Wes asked his Pokemon, petting its head, and Dratini let out a soft yawn.

"Wes?" Rui asked as she woke up from sleeping on the couch. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I'm trying to map out the most likely hiding spots for Cipher." Wes said, and Rui rolled her eyes.

"Wes, come to bed; you need to sleep." Rui said, but Wes stayed sitting. "You can focus on that tomorrow, but right now, you need to rest; you won't be doing the world any favors by falling asleep during a battle against one of Cipher's Admins." Rui said, and Wes finally gave in, and lay down next to Rui, and Dratini curled up on Wes' head, and soon went to sleep with them.

When everyone woke up the next morning, they all got ready to go to Professor Oak's home, so Ash can visit all his Pokemon and so Wes can give the Professor the files and information about Shadow Pokemon he accumulated over the years. Once everyone was ready and dressed, they all made their way to Oak's house, hoping that Oak can discover some information about Shadow Pokemon.

* * *

><p>"Welcome everyone; it's great seeing you again. Especially you Scott." Oak said, and Scott nodded.<p>

"It's been a long time old friend." Scott said, and Oak smiled.

"It certainly has. Now, let's all get inside, and get to work. Ash, your other Pokemon are waiting for you outside; they've been waiting for your arrival for quite awhile." Oak said.

"Thanks Professor. Come on Sapphire; I know my Pokemon will be excited to see you too." Ash said, and he picked up Sapphire and took her outside.

"Okay, so Wes, do you have the information you told me about?" Oak asked, and Wes nodded. He then pulled several three ring binders and several computer disks, and placed them on the coffee table.

"This is all the information I've taken from Cipher about Shadow Pokemon." Wes said, and Oak started going through the files.

"You also have a Shadow Pokemon with you, correct?" Oak asked, and Wes got a Pokeball from his belt, and opened it, revealing his Shadow Bulbasaur. "A Bulbasaur…strange, this isn't what I was expecting a Shadow Pokemon to look like."

"Only a few people can see what makes a Shadow Pokemon different, mainly people that have some control over Aura, like Rui and Ash." Wes explained, and Delia got off the couch and kneeled next to Bulbasaur.

"Oh, this thing isn't a monster; it's just a big cutie." Delia said, trying to sound positive, and she reached out to pet, but Bulbasaur sensed her, and, feeling his personal space being violated, unleashed a powerful Razor Leaf attack.

"Delia!" Scott yelled, and he grabbed Delia by the waist and pulled her back before she could get hurt. Everyone then took cover from the attack, and when it ended, Razor Leaves were in the sofas, the walls, and caused a lot of damage to the living room.

"Is everyone alright?" Scott asked, and everyone nodded. Wes looked at Bulbasaur, and saw that it was ready to attack again, but Wes decided to stop him.

"Bulbasaur! Enough!" Wes said, and Bulbasaur calmed down, and decided to go to sleep.

"Amazing, the strength and sharpness of that Razor Leaf attack is that equal of a Venasaur." Oak said.

"Yeah…sorry about this Professor, I should've warned you about Hyper Mode." Wes said.

"Hyper Mode?" Oak asked.

"Yes; Hyper Mode is a condition Shadow Pokemon goes through. When they enter Hyper Mode, Pokemon get a horrible temper, and will, on most occasions, disobey its trainer, or even attack their trainer. Hyper Mode also increases the critical hit ratio of a Shadow Pokemon's main move; Shadow Rush. It's basically a more powerful version of Take Down, but it has no type disadvantage." Wes explained, and Oak was still going through the Ein files Wes had given him.

"Fascinating, yet…terrifying. I can't believe there are people evil enough to want to do that to Pokemon." Oak said, and Wes nodded.

"Yes it's unfortunate, but that's why I'm in Kanto; it's believed that Cipher has reached beyond Orre. I'm going to take them down!" Wes said.

"Do you have any idea where they are?" Oak asked, but Wes shook his head.

"No; they could be hiding anywhere…but I won't stop until Cipher is brought to justice." Wes said, and they all heard the front door open, and Gary Oak walked in with his wife.

"Hey Grandpa, we're back from the PokeMart." Gary said, and Oak smiled.

"Gary, Dawn, welcome back. We have some surprise visitors." Oak said, and when Gary and his wife, Dawn walked in, they were surprised to find Misty and Brock in their living room.

"Misty! Brock! It's great seeing you guys again!" Dawn said, and Misty and Brock stood up and hugged their old friend. "What brings you back to Kanto so soon?"

"A Pokemon emergency." Misty said, and Dawn was instantly concerned.

"What's the matter?" Dawn asked, and Wes stood up.

"It's a long story; you two may want to sit down if you want to hear it." Wes said, and Gary looked at Wes suspiciously.

"And who are you?" Gary asked.

"My name's Wes, and this is my girlfriend, Rui. We're from the Orre Region, and Ash and his friends are assisting me bringing down a criminal organization known as Cipher." Wes said, and suddenly from Dawn's belt, one of her Pokeballs opened, and Buneary appeared.

"Buneary? What're you doing?" Dawn asked, and then Piplup jumped down from Dawn's shoulder, and the two began complaining about being restless for too long. "Oh, alright. Well, why don't you two go out and play with the other Pokemon?" Dawn suggested, and the two happily went outside.

* * *

><p>"Okay Heracross, just fly around a couple times around the house, slowly, and keep a good eye on Sapphire, alright?" Ash instructed as he put Sapphire on Heracross' head, and Heracross nodded as he slowly took off and began flying around the house.<p>

"Pikachu…" Pikachu said worriedly, concerned about Sapphire's safety, but Ash just smiled.

"Don't worry Pikachu, Heracross will take care of Sapphire." Ash said, when he heard two pairs of small feet move behind him. Ash and Pikachu turned around, and saw Dawn's Piplup and Buneary.

"Hey you two. I take it Dawn and Gary are here, right?" Ash asked, and the two Pokemon nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll go say 'hello'. Heracross, why don't you come back, and make it a soft landing!" Ash said, and Heracross slowly made his way down, and Ash took Sapphire off of Heracross' head, and his daughter got ready to cry. "Don't cry sweetheart, Gary and Dawn are here; don't you want to see them?" Ash asked, and Sapphire immediately perked up and wanted her dad to take her inside. "Pikachu, why don't you play with Piplup and Buneary?" Ash suggested, and Pikachu perked up as well as Ash went inside.

* * *

><p>When Ash got inside, he saw Wes was explaining his story to Dawn and Gary, and was just finishing up with why he was in Kanto.<p>

"I can't believe people would willingly create Shadow Pokemon…how evil can people get?" Dawn asked, and Gary shook his head.

"If I ever come across any of those Cipher Admin's or their Peons, I'll make them all pay!" Gary said.

"So Wes, you said that in Agate, there's some sort of stone relic in a forest. What's it called again?" Oak asked.

"The Relic Stone." Wes answered.

"How original and clever." Ash joked, and everyone turned in his direction.

"Well, well, Ashy-boy, long time, no see." Gary said jokingly, and Ash was instantly annoyed.

"I told you to not call me that!" Ash said, and everyone chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Wes, how does this Relic Stone work? Do you know?" Gary asked.

"It's actually interesting on how it works; the Relic Stone is actually connected to the legendary Pokemon Celebi." Wes said, and everyone, even Professor Oak, was shocked.

"Celebi!" Oak repeated, and Wes nodded.

"The Relic Stone is believed to hold Celebi's power of time travel actually. When a Shadow Pokemon that has the majority of its heart opened, and only the final lock remains, exposing it to the Relic Stone will remind it of the time before it was a Shadow Pokemon, and it'll return to its original, good-hearted, nature." Wes explained, and everyone looked at Wes in awe.

"This Relic Stone sounds very fascinating; I would like to study it personally." Oak said, and Gary nodded.

"So would I. Grandpa, perhaps you and I could go to Orre and study this Relic Stone." Gary suggested.

"That's a good idea. Who knows, maybe we'll discover a new way to purify the Pokemon." Oak said, and there was a knock on the door. Dawn got up to open the door, and two people walked in, a man and a woman, and the man was carrying a video camera.

"Hello, we're from the National Pokemon Master Network, or NPMN, for short." The woman said, and the two made their way through Oak's house, and when they reached the living room, they zoomed in on Ash and Pikachu, who had just returned from playing outside with the other Pokemon. "We were hoping to interview the famous Pokemon Trainer that became champion of the Pokemon League's from Kanto to Unova! The world wants to know your story and your Pokemon." The woman said, and she and the camera man turned to Pikachu. "Let's start with your Pikachu!" The camera man then zoomed in on Pikachu, and Pikachu nervously started scratching the back of his head.

"Ooh, let's get an interview of this Dratini and its trainer while we're at it." The camera man said, and Dratini looked at the camera curiously, but Wes just ignored it.

"I'm not much of a camera person." Wes said, and Dratini began whimpering at Wes. "I guess you can be part of it if you want to Dratini." Wes said, and Dratini smiled as she slithered next to Pikachu.

"Excellent, now it's time for your close-up." The camera man said, and the camera zoomed in on Pikachu and Dratini, and the two Pokemon were ready to be on TV, but they weren't ready for two hands to reach out of the camera lens, grab them, and shove them into the camera. The two then ran out of the house, but Ash and Wes quickly stood up and chased after them when they realized what was going on.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled, running out the door, and Wes was right behind them. Wes got one of his Pokeballs from his belt, and opened it, releasing Metagross.

"Metagross, use Meteor Mash on the ground!" Wes ordered, and Metagross' front left leg turned to steel silver, and it hit the ground, causing it to crumble where the thieves were running, and they dropped the camera that was holding Pikachu and Dratini.

"Who are you!" Ash demanded as his friends and family joined him.

"If you two hand over those Pokemon, you'll be in big trouble!" Scott said.

"Well, in that case, you should…PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!"

"Oh no, not these idiots again!" Wes said, facepalming himself.

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth that's right!" Meowth said, jumping down from out of nowhere.

"Team Rocket? I must admit; you three don't seem like the type Giovanni would hire. You just don't seem… competent enough." Scott said.

"Dad, you know the Team Rocket leader?" Ash asked.

"I've had some dealings with him. Nothing to worry about, son." Scott said.

"If you think we're going to give you back your Pokemon, you've got another thing coming!" Jessie said, and James pressed a button on a remote control, and their Meowth Balloon appeared, and it started to lower behind Team Rocket.

"I don't think so. Come on out, old friend!" Scott said, and he pulled out a Pokeball, and threw it, releasing his Pokemon, which was a Salamence.

"Whoa! You have a Salamence!" Ash asked, and Scott nodded.

"He was the first Pokemon I ever caught when I started my journey. I caught him when he was just a Bagon, and we've been together ever since." Scott explained. "Now Salamence, Giga Impact!" Scott ordered, and Salamence began flapping its wings until it was high in the air, and then dove towards Team Rocket's balloon as spiraling energy surrounded it. Salamence went right through the balloon, and an explosion quickly followed. From the explosion, the case holding Dratini and Pikachu fell, and Ash dove down and caught it before it hit the ground.

"Every time! Every time those twerps ruin our foolproof plans!" Jessie yelled as she flew through the air.

"It gets more and more humiliating every time we're sent flying like this." James said.

"Well, they'd be foolproof if I wasn't stuck with you two morons!" Meowth yelled.

"We're blasting off again!"

"Wobbafett!"

"Hah! Pikachu!" Ash said happily as he opened the container, and Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled, while Wes walked over to Dratini and bent down and began petting her.

"Dratini, are you alright?" Wes asked sincerely, and Dratini gave out a happy cry, and lunged onto Wes' chest, and he caught her. "Good; I was really worried about you." Wes said, and Dratini bounced back onto Wes' shoulder.

"So, that's Team Rocket these days. Can't say I'm all that impressed." Scott said.

"I'm starting to get really annoyed by those idiots." Wes said, and everyone went back inside.

"Dad, I'm surprised you have a Salamence." Ash said, and Scott nodded.

"Salamence is my oldest Pokemon partner. We've been through a lot together. When I started my journey in Johto, I caught Salamence as a Bagon, and we've stuck together ever since." Scott explained, and he and Ash continued to talk about Pokemon, but Misty was more focused about Wes' Shadow Bulbasaur.

"Wes, how do you exactly reopen a door to a Pokemon's heart?" Misty asked.

"There are several different methods, but it all focus' on becoming closer to the Pokemon; I battle with them, keep them properly groomed, and sometimes I even massage them with special colognes that they like. Once I finish that, I go to the Relic Stone in Agate Village, and that's capable of opening their heart all the way, which does lead to a few surprises." Wes explained.

"Like what?" Gary asked.

"The Pokemon will likely evolve, or be very close to evolving. You see, when a Pokemon becomes a Shadow Pokemon, for some reason, it's not able to immediately retain the experience that comes with battling, so it can't evolve and learn new moves as a Shadow Pokemon." Wes explained.

"That seems more like a disadvantage to the Shadow Pokemon." Oak explained.

"True, but the Shadow Pokemon makes up for it by being ten times more powerful than it would be if it was a purified Pokemon." Wes said, and Oak nodded.

"Fascinating. Terrifying and depressing, but fascinating." Oak said, and Bulbasaur, who was still sleeping on the coffee table, woke up and started stretching before walking around the house. "Wes, if it's alright with you, could you leave your Bulbasaur here with me? I'd like to study him to learn more about Shadow Pokemon; maybe find a way to purify them faster." Oak said, and Wes picked up the Bulbasaur, and began petting it.

"I don't know Professor…like I said, Shadow Pokemon are really aggressive, and if anything happened to you or any of the other Pokemon here, I'd feel terrible." Wes said.

"Oh don't worry, I may be old, but I know how to take care of myself. Everything will be just fine, and I promise to take excellent care of Bulbasaur." Oak said, and Wes looked at Bulbasaur for a few moments before shrugging.

"Alright, if you're sure everything will be fine." Wes said, and he handed Bulbasaur's Pokeball to Oak.

"I'm sure." Oak said, and he smiled as he was given the Pokeball.

"Professor, I'm sorry to change the subject, but where's Tracey?" Misty asked.

"Oh, he's over at the Orange Islands, doing a favor for me. Unfortunately he won't be back until next week, but I'll let him know you said 'hello'." Oak said, and Misty smiled.

"Thank you." Misty said, and Scott turned towards Wes with a smirk on his face.

"So, Wes, you interested in a Pokemon battle?" Ash asked, and Wes smiled.

"Sure, why not? I could go for a battle." Wes said, and everyone instantly walked outside, with Ash and Wes right behind them, excited for the battle to come.

To Be Continued


End file.
